


Still Alive

by gaydemonium



Series: The Forsaken Trilogy [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: AU, Apocalypse, Apocalyptic, Dystopian, F/F, F/M, Gore, Horror, M/M, Malec, Malec AU, Malec Fluff, Malec Smut, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-01-24 13:03:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 50,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18572047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaydemonium/pseuds/gaydemonium
Summary: A year and a half after the fall of the Institute, Alec and Magnus have finally found their little slice of heaven and settled in to a semi normal life on their farm. They have shelter. They have food. There are barely any Forsaken or any trouble.Until one day there is.Two kids show up in their neck of the woods; runaways from a nearby place that put kids to work in order to survive. Alec and Magnus reluctantly take them in, unaware of the danger that's not far behind. It isn't long before the grown men are thrown back into the harsh reality that the world isn't safe, no matter how strong your walls are. No place is safe.Only safer.





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Hello reader! If you're new to this story and haven't read the first part "Left For Dead" then I highly recommend you go read that one first. Otherwise Still Alive isn't going to make much sense. So go read the first story and then come back to this one. I'll wait.
> 
> If you're not new to this series then hello again. This is the second part to a trilogy I like to call the Forsaken Trilogy. It's a combination of two of my favorite things: Malec and zombies. It's going to be gory. It's going to be jawdropping. So I hope you enjoy it.

_"Alec, come on!" Max cried. "I wanna practice before tryouts!"_

_"Alright, alright. Hold your horses! I'm coming!" Alec called back, breaking out into a jog to catch up with his little brother. "Come here you little munchkin!"_

_Max screamed with joy as Alec picked him up and tossed him over his shoulder. "Stop! You're making me dizzy!"_

_"Did someone say my name?" A female voice said. Turning, Alec saw Isabelle climbing up the hill with a picnic basket in her hands. "You say my name?"_

_"Unless your name is Dizzy then no," Alec chuckled as Max tugged at his ears. "What's that in the basket?"_

_Isabelle lift the basket with a smile. "Surprise! I thought we could make a day out of it. Just sit and enjoy the nice weather. Max is finishing up school soon. Consider this an early end of school celebration."_

_"Yay!" Max clambered down from Alec's arms to open the basket. "What did you pack?"_

_"Your favorites. Take it out," Isabelle told him._

_Alec watched with a smile but it quickly faded once he saw what was in his little brother's hands. Covered in blood and still beating...._

_....was a human heart._

_"Awesome! Thanks Izzy!" Max dove right in before Alec could protest, his teeth sinking into the bloody, beating heart. The squelching sound almost made the contents of Alec's stomach rise out of his mouth, but he managed to swallow the bile down._

_"Alec? What's wrong? You look a little green," Isabelle laughed. "Don't you like picnics anymore?"_

_"I...." Alec let his gaze fall back down to Max. Little Max's face had completely changed; a chunk of his face was missing as well as his left eye. When he chewed, Alec could see his teeth move in the gap where the skin of his cheek should've been._

_"Alec. What's wrong?" Isabelle just placed a hand on his arm when a stream of blood rolled down over her hand._

_Alec nearly lost it when he looked up and saw a scalpel sticking out from her forehead. "Oh god. Izzy..."_

_"Alec? Have some of the stuff that Izzy packed! It's delicious!" Max exclaimed cheerily._

_This was all too much for him. He tried to move away when Max grabbed hold of his arm to keep him in place._

_"Where are you going, Alec? I thought today was going to be a family day," the thing that wasn't Max told him._

_Alec was about to protest when he felt a pair of teeth sunk down into his arm. He screamed._

_And screamed._

_And screamed._

Alec quickly shot up in bed, panting heavily. His skin plastered in sweat, the blankets tangled around him were drenched as he tried to kick them off in an attempt to free himself.

A dog happily trotted into the room and jumped onto the bed. Blue Bell, a border collie mix, took her usual spot at the foot of the bed, her two different color eyes gazing at him lovingly.

"Hey, girl. It was just another nightmare. Did I wake you up?" Alec asked her, laughing as she inched her way up to Magnus' side of the bed to cuddle with him.

Blue Bell came as a surprise to the both of them when they first found the house over a year ago. The farm was abandoned (or so they thought) apart from the two corpses they had to discard from the barn, which was a man and a woman who had hung themselves but still turned.

That's when they found Blue Bell.

The dog was in the house, skinny and starving. When Alec tried to approach her, she snapped and snarled while backing into a corner to protect herself.

"Alec. Watch yourself," Magnus had said.

"I know. Hand me a piece of meat. Maybe that'll coax her out."

Magnus handed him a piece of meat, which Alec slowly placed a few feet away from the hungry dog. She seemed interested in it right away. She sniffed it, then attacked it like she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"She's so thin. She's probably been trapped in here for a while." Alec picked up an empty bag of dog food. "She was feeding herself at least."

"Until it ran out. Poor girl. All alone in here like this. It's no wonder she's part feral." Magnus knelt down to watch the dog lick the remnants of meat off the floor. "Hey, pretty girl. It's okay. We won't hurt you."

The dog licked her lips with a low growl, but slowly approached Magnus as he outstretched his hand. Her growl turned into a low groan once she sniffed his hand, and by some miracle or another, she nuzzled into him.

"There you go," Magnus breathed. "Good girl. Got some food in you and now you feel good, huh?"

The dog's entire demeanor changed when he spoke to her. Her tail wagged a mile a minute and she fell to her side and let both men rub her belly all the while panting with a smile on her face.

"She was just hungry. We're not ourselves when we're hungry," Alec chuckled.

"True. Hey, she's got a collar on. Let's see what it says." Magnus flipped the chain around to see what was on it. "Blue Bell. Is your name Blue Bell?"

At the mention of her name, Blue Bell shot up and barked. She even gave Magnus a wet doggy kiss on the cheek.

"I guess it is!" Alec laughed. "It's been a while since I've even seen a dog. Can we keep her?"

Magnus gave him a look. "What are you, 12? Of course we're keeping her. How can you say no to this beautiful face?"

So that was that. Blue Bell became a permanent member of their family from that day on, even contributing with hunting (which she proved to be superior at) as well as providing an alarm clock and security for both men.

"Let's go see what dad's up to, huh? Come on. Let's go," Alec said to her. With a yip, she jumped off the bed and charged downstairs before he could even pull on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.

It was a cold spring day, but not cold enough for Alec to have to throw on a winter jacket. Wood had been thrown in the fireplace downstairs, signalling that Magnus was already up and about doing chores and gathering eggs and milk from their chickens and cow.

It was a miracle alone that the animals were still alive when they found the farm. Extremely malnourished, it took a while for Magnus and Alec to get the animals back to their healthy selves before they could get any produce to sustain them in their new farm life. But once they were healthy again, Alec and Magnus were living the good life with fresh food everyday.

Magnus looked up from the pail of milk to see Alec walking towards him with Blue Bell by his side. "Good morning, gorgeous. How did you sleep?"

"You talking to me or Blue?" Alec joked, leaning down to kiss Magnus on the lips. "How's our girl today? She giving us some love?"

"A little bit. But it should be enough to trade at the next farm over. Who's a good girl? Daisy is!" Magnus cooed at the cow, proudly stroking her side.

Daisy batted her big brown eyes at them while she chewed her hay. She was the only cow they had at the moment, but Alec had his eye on a young bull at the neighboring farm that he was looking to trade for and have mate with Daisy.

"And how's my pretty girl? Give dad some kisses," Magnus chuckled as Blue Bell jumped on his lap to give him wet dog kisses. "I think she might be a better kisser than you, Alexander. Kiss me again. Just to see."

"Nuh uh. No way. You go wash your face first. I'm not kissing you after she just slobbered all over your mouth so you can forget about that."

"Don't be such a baby," Magnus wiped his face with a hand. "It's been proven that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's. Kissing you is probably much more unhygienic than her."

"That's lovely. Date her then. She'd love your attention 24/7." Alec picked up an axe from the stump just outside the barn. "I'm going to head out hunting in a bit. See if I can catch anything."

"Alright." Magnus tilted his head back and let Alec kiss him again but on the forehead this time. "Check the traps too while you're out there. The snow is melting so there'll be more rabbits hopping around. You might even catch the Easter Bunny."

"Wouldn't that be something." Alec whistled to Blue Bell. "Come on, girl. Let's go hunting."

At the word "hunting" Blue Bell leapt to her feet with an excited bark and ran towards the house. She turned back to look at Alec as if to say "hurry up I don't have all day" before going to the door and scratching at it with a paw.

"Excited to go out Blue?" Alec laughed when Blue's tail started to wag. "I thought so. Just let me grab my gear and we'll head out okay? Stay."

Blue Bell whined but sat down on the porch, her ears back against her head.

Alec packed up his gear for the hunting trip. Over the first couple of months that he and Magnus were on the road, he managed to pick up some handy items on their searches in houses, stores, wherever they thought had useful supplies inside.

His most prized find was the most beautiful bow he ever laid eyes on. It was about a month after they left what remained of the Institute. He and Magnus stopped at a house to get shelter from the cold when he saw it in one of the bedrooms. It was just his size and still looked brand new.

"I swear to god," Magnus said at the time. "You look at bows like you're eye fucking them and I can't tell whether I'm annoyed or just jealous."

"I'm not eye fucking it. I'm just....admiring it."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Whatever, lover boy. I'll give you two some alone time to get to know each other."

Alec smiled at the memory as he slipped his quiver filled with arrows over his shoulder. Their other treasure finds included knives, a few hand grenades that were a last resort only, an assault rifle that Alec was pretty certain Magnus eye fucked on more than one occasion, and their pride and joy Blue Bell.

A sharp bark outside signalled that Blue Bell was getting impatient.

"Alexander! Someone out here is getting very pissy at you!" Magnus called out from the front porch.

"I know! I'm coming!" With his gear neatly equipped and packed away, Alec stomped downstairs. "Would a little patience kill you?"

Blue Bell's upper lip went up, revealing a single sharp tooth.

"Don't give me that look. You don't have get ready or carry around weapons with you," Alec told her. He turned to look at Magnus. "You coming with us this time?"

Magnus shook his head. "Not this time. I still have to collect the eggs and get water from the well. But you go ahead though-and don't bother coming home if you're empty handed."

Alec made a face. "I love you too. Even though you're an ass to me."

Magnus chuckled. "Go have fun in the woods, you caveman. Hope you catch something."

Alec loved to go hunting. He remembered going into the woods as a teen with his father on a weekend hunting trip after school and sitting in their little shack, waiting for something to pass. Sometimes they got something. Sometimes they didn't.

Isabelle loved hunting too. His sister was always the one to set up the rabbit traps because she claims he "always messed it up". She was the quieter of the Lightwood hunting trio. Where Alec and their father Robert often whispered and snickered at their own jokes, Isabelle (if she was there with them) would hush them like they were children. By herself, Alec knew she was as silent as a ghost.

"Oh Izzy," Alec whispered under his breath. "I'm still so sorry for what I did to you. You didn't deserve any of that."

Blue Bell was trotting beside him. With a small whimper she licked his hand before racing on ahead through the brush.

It wasn't long before Alec caught sight of a young buck off in the distance. It's head was bent as it ate some moss growing on a tree trunk so it didn't even notice Alec watching it carefully.

Blue Bell wasn't even of the pointer breed and her body was completely straight, her nose level with her back and tail as she pointed in the direction of the deer. She knew not to make any noise once they found something so she stayed still as Alec slowly and carefully took out his bow and nocked an arrow back on the string.

The deer suddenly looked up, ears alert. It sprang away before Alec could even let loose his arrow, disappearing further into the woods.

"Dammit," he swore under his breath. "That was the first buck in weeks."

Branches snapped somewhere behind him and he instinctively raised his bow again. He was surprised to see that the intruder behind him wasn't a predator or even a Forsaken for that matter but rather something he hadn't seen in a very long time.

Two kids. One was a boy about 13 or 14 with curly blonde hair. He was probably just below Alec's shoulder in height and he carried a little girl in his arms. The girl looked to be 5 or 6, her hair dark and curly to match her milk chocolate skin.

"Help....." The boy rasped. "Help us."

Then he collapsed into the snow.


	2. It Takes A Village To Raise A Child

Magnus heard Alec before he saw him. He had been doing some work in the barn when he heard Blue Bell's sharp bark, which usually meant something was wrong, so he poked his head out and saw Alec coming out of the woods while carrying the unconscious form of a kid in his arms.

"Alexander? Who's this and why are you carrying them?" He asked once they close enough to hear each other.

"He collapsed. I was just about to shoot a buck when I guess the buck heard him and got spooked. Then I turned to see these two standing a few feet away from me and then he fell. He also had her with him too."

Magnus looked down at a tiny girl who clung to Alec's leg like a koala. "Oh. Hello. I almost didn't see you there. What's your name, sweet pea?"

The little girl wiped her tiny nose with the back of her hand. "Madzie."

"Well then, Madzie. Let's go inside and get you warmed up. Do you like soup? We have plenty of that." Magnus shot Alec a look as they both headed towards the house. "Now when I said don't come home empty handed, this isn't exactly what I meant."

Alec huffed. "Believe me. This isn't what I expected either."

He carried the boy upstairs to an empty bedroom and gently placed him on the bed. The kid was shivering with cold but remained unconscious the entire time as Alec checked him over for bites or any other kind of wounds.

"No wounds. I guess that's a good sign," Alec more or less whispered to himself. "I'm going to go get a warm cloth, okay? We need to break your fever before it gets any worse than it already is."

He went back downstairs where Magnus was getting Madzie a bowl of soup. Magnus looked up from the stove for a moment and nodded his head.

"How's the boy? Was he....you know," whispered Magnus.

"No wounds. Just exhausted with a fever. Is that water boiled?" When Magnus shook his head, he threw in another log of wood into the stove and placed the pot on top of it. "What about the girl? Is she okay?"

"She's a perfect bill of health. Minus the ravenous appetite though. She worked through that first bowl of soup like it was nothing." Magnus smiled as Madzie glanced over at them while eating her meal. "It's kind of cute how her legs can't touch the floor yet. She swings them back and forth instead."

"Yeah. Cute. Hey, bring up a hot cloth once the water is boiled for me please? I'm going back upstairs to check on the boy. I don't want to leave his side."

Magnus nodded. "Sure. I'll be up in a few."

Alec took the stairs two at a time back to the boy's room. When he peered into the room, he saw that Blue Bell was giving the kid a curious sniff around his neck and forehead. Once she was satisfied with what she smelled, she then started to bury her nose under the crook of his neck while snorting and grunting like a pig.

"Hey! Get out of here. Give the kid some space, Blue. Go on!" Alec ordered. Blue Bell was gone in a flash, her nails clicking on the wooden staircase as she made her way down to her more preferred and favorite dad.

Once she was out of the room, Alec sat beside the bed next to the boy. The teenager was still shivering, even under the thick blanket that Alec had opened up over him, so it must've been from the cold clothes he was wearing that was still making him shiver.

"Is he still out?" Magnus whispered when he entered the room with a cloth in his hands.

Alec took the hot cloth that Magnus handed him. "Yeah. I don't know if I should get those frozen clothes off him or not....he might not appreciate that."

"He might not appreciate it now but he will when it saves his life." Magnus waved a hand to indicate Alec get a move on. "Come on. We'll just strip him down to his underwear so he'll at least have his dignity when he wakes up."

They got to work on getting the wet, frozen clothes off the boy. Whatever happened to him in the woods looked pretty bad; he had bruises on his upper arms and back as well as slight frostbite on his fingers and toes.

"Fuck," Alec breathed when he caught sight of the bruises. "What the hell happened to him?"

Magnus shrugged. "Maybe he can tell us when he wakes up?"

Alec was about to say something else when he saw the little girl appear in the doorway, Blue Bell by her side. "Oh. Hi. Madzie, right?"

Madzie nodded shyly. "Is my brother okay?"

"He's your-" Magnus glanced between the two kids. "Yes. He'll be just fine. We're going to take off his cold clothes and put a warm cloth on him to get his body temperature back up."

Madzie watched as they continued to remove the wet clothes off her brother. Once they were finished she crawled into bed beside him and cuddled in. Blue Bell did the same, plopping herself down on top of the boy's feet and falling right to sleep.

"So what's your brother's name, Madzie?" asked Magnus. "Can you tell us his name?"

Madzie nodded. "Kit."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "Just Kit? What's that short for?"

"He doesn't like people knowing his real name. So everyone calls him Kit."

Magnus nodded, cutting Alec off from asking further questions. "Alright. We'll call him Kit if that's what he wants to be called."

Pleased by this, Madzie snuggled into her brother even more before settling into a deep sleep on his chest.

"Alexander," Magnus whispered. "Come on. Let's leave them be for a while. We'll check on them in a bit."

They went downstairs where the heat of the stove felt warmer than it did on the second floor of the house. The soup was still hot so both men got a bowl for themselves and sat down at the kitchen table to eat.

"Makes you wonder where they came from, doesn't it?" Alec pondered out loud as he shovelled a spoonful of soup into his mouth.

Magnus smirked. "Well when a mom and dad love each other very much-"

"You know that's not what I meant. I meant....where did they come from? Where were they living and what drove them out into the woods like that? They weren't even dressed properly for the cold."

"True. Which can only mean they left in a hurry and didn't have time to change."

Alec grinned. "Look at you. Using your FBI skills to solve a case."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Please. Anyone with any common sense can figure that out. It doesn't take a genius to know that they left in a hurry."

He made a fair point. If the kids weren't in a hurry, they would've packed a bag with supplies and wore warmer clothes for the cold weather. But instead it was only Madzie who wore a thick coat three sizes too big for her. Kit wore nothing but a long sleeved shirt and worn jeans and boots that were close to Magnus' size rather than his own.

"What if they were getting away from something?"

Magnus looked up from his bowl of soup to consider what Alec suggested. "It's possible. But what would they be running from? We haven't seen a single Forsaken in weeks."

This was also true. Whether it was because of the cold temperatures or some other unknown factor that they couldn't figure out, they hadn't come across a single zombie in weeks. Alec had spent his fair share of time in the woods hunting and collecting supplies. Not a single undead crossed his path. 

Not once.

"We might have to sit down with Kit and get some answers once he's conscious again," Magnus said between slurps of soup. "If there's a threat nearby then I sure as fuck want to know about it so I can be prepared. Don't you?"

Alec paused before nodding in agreement. He would definitely want to know if there's a threat close to his home.

"That's what I thought. And if I know you-which I do-you like to protect the ones you love. You don't take to threats too kindly."

"No I don't," Alec chuckled. "At least that much is true. But thankfully there haven't been any threats around lately. It's peaceful here."

Magnus knocked on the wooden table to prevent Alec's words from jinxing them. "Almost too peaceful. But let's not count our chickens before they hatch. God forbid your big mouth goes and ruins everything for us."

Taking Magnus' and his bowls over to the sink, Alec rolled his eyes. "You're forgetting what this big mouth can do and what it does to you."

Surprised, Magnus chewed on his lip with a scowl, saying nothing because it was obvious that Alec had won this round.

They waited around downstairs for a couple of hours waiting for Kit to wake up, occasionally going up to the guest bedroom to check his temperature. He had stopped shivering, which was a good sign, but he was still sleeping soundly with Madzie and Blue Bell in the bed.

"He's still asleep," Alec told Magnus when he made his way back downstairs. "Blue Bell has really taken a shine to them."

"Of course she did. We're the only people she's seen in a long time. These kids are a nice treat for her." Magnus put down the wood he'd been whittling and sighed. "Look. I know they're cute but we can't keep them, Alec."

Alec made a confused face. "I never said I wanted to? Why would you assume that?"

"Because," Magnus waved his knife around in the air like a wand, "I can see the gears in your head just working overtime."

"Magnus. There are no gears working overtime in my head. I just want to help these kids get back on their feet again-"

A crash from upstairs caused both men to jump to their feet. They heard Blue start to bark wildly and quickly made their way up to the guest room where Kit was crawling across the floor towards the bed. He must have tried to get up and walk out but was too weak to make it all the way.

"Whoa! Kit. Slow down. You're going to hurt yourself," Alec reached out a hand to help the kid up but Kit slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me!" Kit yelled, his voice cracking from adolescence. He crawled his way back to bed and climbed up on top of it. By the time he was sitting up against the headboard, he had broken out into a sweat again. "Who the hell are you two?"

Magnus placed a hand on his chest. "I'm Magnus. This is my boyfriend Alec. He found you two in the woods and brought you back here. You're at our farm."

Kit quickly glanced at Alec. "You brought us back here? But you don't even know us."

"Well I wasn't going to just leave you both out in the cold," Alec chuckled. "It's not in my nature."

Kit eyed them before turning to Madzie. "So you're okay then? Did they hurt you?"

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Hurt her? We would never lay on a hand-" 

"Wasn't talking about you," Kit grumbled without looking at Magnus.

Madzie shook her head. "I'm okay. Magnus made soup, Kit! It's really good. You should have some. It'll make you feel better."

Kit smiled warmly. "Maybe after. I'm too tired to even lift my arms right now."

"That's the cold leaving your body," Alec told him. "Your temperature is going back to normal which is good. We've been trying to get it down for hours."

Madzie jumped to her feet and began to bounce on the bed. "They have a cow, Kit! And chickens! And a puppy!"

Kit took her by the hands to keep her from shaking the bed any further. "Sit down, Mads. You're making me sick with all the bed shaking you're doing."

She bounced one final time before falling to her knees on the mattress. "Have some soup, Kitty. It's real good. Right Magnus?"

Surprised by how enthusiastic she was about deer soup, Magnus nodded to make her happy. "Absolutely! I don't settle for anything less than perfect. I can heat some up and bring it up here to the room if that's what you want?"

One of their stomachs gurgled, immediately causing Kit to cover his with a hand. "Sure. Thank you."

Magnus disappeared downstairs to work on the soup while Alec stayed in the guest bedroom to tend to Kit. He brought out another blanket for Madzie to sleep under as well as another pillow which she immediately pulled over her tiny body.

"Are you cold too?" Alec asked her as he tucked her in.

"A little," she sniffled. "But I'm okay. I have Kit to cuddle into. He's nice and warm now."

Alec smiled. She was so cute with her big brown eyes and button nose that it was impossible not to smile at her. "That's good. But if you do get cold, let me know. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

As fast as that, she was asleep again, cuddled into the crook of Kit's arm. Kit moved a strand of hair from her face and nodded in thanks at Alec.

"Thanks for bringing us in. I didn't mean to snap at you earlier. I was just scared for her safety," he said.

"Don't worry about it. I grew up with three younger siblings. I completely understand the instinct to protect her," Alec chuckled. "She mentioned that you're her brother?"

Kit sighed. "Yeah. I'm not blood related or anything. The place that we came from....she kinda just took to me and never left my side. So she started calling me her brother. It doesn't bother me or anything in case that's what you're asking-"

"Of course not. That's not what I meant. But when you say place where you came from....where is that exactly?"

Before Kit even had a chance to answer, Magnus returned with a piping hot bowl of soup and some milk on a tray.

"You're in luck, kid. Our cow Daisy gave us some fresh milk this morning. Sorry if there's no cookies to go with it though," Magnus said as he set the tray down on the bedside table.

Kit grabbed the bowl of soup and dove right in. "I'm just thankful there's something hot."

"Careful. You're going to burn your-" Magnus winced as Kit yelped when the hot liquid touched his lips. "Good thing I brought some milk up. It's not that cold but it'll help with the next time you decide to shove a hot mouthful of liquid down your throat."

It took all but a few swallows before Kit was finished his meal. He gulped down the milk, let out a burp, then sighed in content.

"Thanks again for the soup. That's the best thing I've eaten in days," he whispered to avoid waking up Madzie.

"You're quite welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it." Magnus picked up the tray with a hand. "I'll bring this downstairs for you. You rest up for a bit."

Alec watched as Kit got comfortable in the bed. He wanted to ask where they came from but judging by how tired they both looked, he figured that was another question for another time. So he quietly left the room and went downstairs behind Magnus.

"The kids are asleep," he said in a low voice. "Both cuddled into each other with Blue at the foot of the bed."

Magnus smiled broadly. "This kind of feels normal. Doesn't it feel normal to you?"

Alec shrugged. "You said already we weren't keeping them, Magnus. So don't go changing your mind now."

"I wasn't," Magnus scowled. "I only said that this feels normal. Like we weren't living in a post apocalyptic world. You. Me. Two kids. A farm. This is as normal as we're ever going to get."

Seeing his annoyance, Alec went over to stand behind Magnus by the sink. "Are you mad at me or something?"

Magnus felt a pair of long arms snake around his waist. "No. I'm not mad. You're just so quick to tell me what to do sometimes. It's irritating."

Alec leaned down to kiss the side of Magnus' neck. "I'm sorry. You know I don't mean to be."

Magnus sighed at the contact. "I know, pretty boy. You might annoy me sometimes but your apologies sure as hell make up for that."

Alec chuckled, twirling Magnus around to face him. "So the kids are asleep...."

Magnus grinned. "You mentioned that."

"So....you looked really hot milking Daisy today."

This made Magnus burst into a fit of laughter, which only ended up with Alec covering his mouth with a hand to keep him from waking up the kids. "Sorry. That was a bit loud. But seriously? I looked hot milking Daisy?!"

"Yeah. I mean....the way your hands were working her udders-"

"Oh god. Okay. Please stop right now before I vomit." Magnus took Alec by the loop of his belt and lead up him the stairs. "Let's test how quiet we can be in the bedroom."

Alec chuckled. "We have kids now. We can't be fooling around in the next room. I mean we can kiss and stuff-"

"Kiss and stuff. I don't know who you think we are," Magnus whispered in a low voice as his lips slowly kissed the side of Alec's neck. "Come on. A few minutes won't hurt anyone."

They made it up to the bedroom. Stumbling towards their bed, Magnus reached up under Alec's shirt and felt every inch of smooth skin that he could get his hands on. "They're not our kids, Alec. Remember that."

Alec nodded. The mouth that was roaming over his stomach started to go lower, hovering just above the waistband of his jeans. "Yeah. Yeah, no. I know. Just keep doing what you're doing."

From down below, Magnus smirked. "Just so we're clear. The next time you go hunting, are you actually going to bring something home that we can eat?"

Alec raised his head up off the mattress. "We can't make kid stew?"

They paused for a second before bursting into a fit of giggles and kissing each other until they both fell asleep.


	3. Family of Five

Magnus felt a pair of eyes staring at him from the end of the bed. Groggily, he lift his head off his pillow and squinted through sleep filled eyes to see Madzie at the foot of the mattress, watching him.

"Madzie? What's wrong?" He croaked.

She rubbed her nose. "I had a bad dream."

This was child speak for "can I get in the bed with you" so Magnus let out a sigh. "Come on up. You'll be safe between me and Alec."

She happily crawled up into the bed and settled down between them. Alec was sound asleep and never felt her squirming around under the sheets which only made her giggle and lean forward to look at him.

"He's so sleepy!" She giggled behind her tiny hands. "He's hairy too."

Magnus choked back a laugh. "Yes he is sleepy. He's had an exciting day. But don't tell him that he's hairy, though. I don't think he knows yet."

Madzie snickered. She reached up and moved Alec's black hair off his forehead before shifting the blankets up over his chest. "There. Now he won't get cold."

She stayed put for about an hour, humming a song while looking around the room at the paintings that hung on the walls. Occasionally she asked what the painting was and Magnus would answer her. Then finally she cuddle into him with a sigh.

"Kit is sleeping so he didn't know I had a bad dream," she whispered to Magnus.

Magnus turned over on his side to make more room for her. "What did you dream about?"

Madzie's eyes flickered towards him for a second before looking back down at the material of her shirt. "I was at the farm and the mean man was chasing me."

Magnus felt his body involuntarily tense. "What mean man was that?"

With a small finger, Madzie pointed in no particular direction. "That mean man out there. He held us in cages when we weren't working. Kit says I'm too small to work so I stayed in the barn while he went outside and did chores."

Alec began to stir as she talked. He let out a loud groan as he stretched all 6'3 of his long and lean body, turning over on his side to face both Magnus and Madzie. He looked surprised to see the little girl in the bed with them.

"Oh. When did you crawl in here?" He chuckled through a sleepy voice and yawned.

"She's been here for fifteen minutes now. You seriously didn't feel or hear her?" Magnus asked.

"No. You know me. Ever since we moved here I've been sleeping more soundly." Alec looked down at Madzie and smiled. "I thought I heard someone say she had a bad dream. Is that true?"

Madzie nodded. "Yeah. Magnus knows about the bad man now."

"That's a bit of a stretch," Magnus muttered. "She said something about a man and a barn but other than that, it wasn't much detail to go on."

Alec nodded. He reached under Madzie's arms and lift her up to plop her down on his lap. "So Madzie. How old are you?"

Madzie immediately made a 5 with her hand. "I'm 5 and three quarters."

Magnus whistled. "Wow. That's awesome. You're a big girl now," he chuckled when Madzie nodded. "How old is your brother?"

Madzie had to pause and think about it for a moment. "He just turned fourteen. He sounds funny now. He squeaks like a mouse sometimes and it makes me laugh."

Alec smirked. "He'll be like that for a little while. It's all a part of growing up."

"Which is a much longer and more detailed conversation for when you're old enough to understand," Magnus pointed out.

"True," Alec nodded. "So right now you're just going to have to get used to it, okay? Try not to give him such a rough time about it either. Promise?"

Madzie looked at Alec's raised pinky before looping her own through his. "Promise."

Alec chuckled as "pwomise" came out instead. "That's a good girl. Now come on. It's time to feed the chickens."

The men got dressed (without Madzie in their presence) and made their way outside towards the chicken coop. Madzie was already outside with Kit, giggling as the chickens clucked at them through the wired fence around.

"Look Kit! That chicken has spots!" She gasped.

"Those are more like speckles, Mads. But yeah. It's pretty cool." Kit leaned against the side of the barn to watch the chickens. He honestly wasn't too interested in the animals. He probably came across as bored to the older men as they approached but didn't care much for that the strangers thought about him.

"There you are. Should you be up and about so soon?" Alec asked him.

"I'm fine," Kit scowled. "My fever is gone. I have food in my stomach. My clothes are warm and dry again. Everything's perfect."

Magnus gently tugged on Alec's sleeve to get his attention. Once he got it, he pulled Alec a few feet away from the kids so they wouldn't hear him speak. "You should talk to Kit about Madzie's dream. He might know more about what's really going on."

A loud laugh from Madzie caused Alec to glance back at them. "I don't know. It's not our place to ask questions. Besides," his voice dropped an octave, "Kit doesn't exactly strike me as the sharing type."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "He's fourteen, Alec. Are you really going to let a teenager be the boss of you? Just talk to him already. Maybe we can help them somehow."

Reluctantly, Alec trudged back over to the kids. Kit had taken a seat on an old stump that Magnus had dug up from the ground months ago. When he saw Alec coming over to him again, he immediately rolled his eyes.

"I know that look," he grumbled.

Alec shrugged. "What look?"

The teen snorted humourlessly as he threw some feed into the coop. "You have the look of someone who has questions and wants answers. You do have questions. Don't you?"

Alec wasn't going to let this kid get to him so he squared his shoulders and thumbed over his shoulder. "Let's go talk over on the porch. Magnus will watch Madzie for a few minutes. Won't you Magnus?"

Magnus, who was trying to catch a chicken for Madzie to pet, stopped and gave him a thumbs up. "Absolutely. We're just about to pick some eggs. She'll be fine with me."

After staring both Alec and Magnus down for a minute, Kit finally shrugged and walked over to the back porch of the house. Blue Bell was laying down in a patch of sun and when she saw the boy coming towards her, she began to wiggle in excitement, her tail thumping against the wooden boards of the step.

"I wanted to talk to you about something that Madzie said to us earlier," said Alec as he sat down on the top step.

Kit's eyes looked everywhere but at Alec. "Okay. What did she say?"

"Um....well...." A piece of fabric stuck off the leg of his pants so Alec picked at it while trying to find the right words. "She said she had a nightmare about a mean man and you getting put to work. Does any of that mean anything to you?"

Kit began to rub Blue's fur as he nodded. "Yeah. She had a nightmare about the last place we were in. It was a really shitty place where kids were held against their will and forced to work out in the fields."

"And did anything....happen to the kids sometimes?"

Kit glanced at him. "Some died, sure. Overworked and starving." He suddenly realized what Alec meant and shook his head vigorously. "Oh. You mean like that. No, I don't think the kids were treated like that. They were mainly workers but nothing more."

Alec breathed out a sigh of relief. "Okay. That's good. I mean the whole putting kids to work thing isn't good but at least that part isn't."

A loud howl of laughter echoed across the yard. Kit looked up to see Madzie being carried by Magnus in the air and she was laughing so hard she was snorting.

"She really likes it here," he smiled. "She didn't like it back at the other place because she wasn't allowed to play or pet the animals. So she stayed mostly in her pen."

"Wait. A pen? Like an animal pen?"

"Yeah. We all stayed in pens. Sometimes two or three to a cage. It was crowded but at least it was kinda warm during the cold seasons."

Alec leaned back against his elbows on the porch. He couldn't imagine sharing a small cage with two other people let alone being in a cage at all. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. Madzie too."

Kit shrugged. "Yeah well....shit happens. We were lucky to escape when we did. If we ever got caught again I doubt we'd be lucky enough to get out a second time."

Seeing the hurt in the boy's eyes, Alec placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You're safe now. That's all that matters. Just look at how happy Madzie is. She's having the time of her life."

It was true. Madzie was now running after Magnus through the yard trying to tag him. Magnus even pretended to be out of breath and slowed enough just so she could tag him and win the game.

"I had a little brother once," Alec suddenly spoke again. "Actually I had two, but my youngest brother was nine when we fled the community that we lived in."

Kit turned to look at him. "What happened to him? Is he still here?"

Alec shook his head. "No. He died almost two years ago. Forsaken got him. I couldn't save him in time though. I wasn't fast enough."

As an awkward silence fell over them, Kit rubbed the back of his neck in annoyance. "You're not going to cry are you? Because I hate being around crying people. I never know what to say or do."

Alec laughed. "No. I'm not going to cry. I've had my time to mourn and I'm at peace now. Come to think of it, he would've been eleven next month."

Blue Bell suddenly jumped to her feet to go join in on Madzie's chase for Magnus, barking excitedly. Kit watched them run after each other. "What was your brother's name? The one that died."

Alec sighed. "Max. Max Lightwood. My other siblings were Jace and Isabelle. Isabelle died too."

"Fuck," Kit whispered. "Sorry. For both cursing and about your sister, I mean. That really sucks. I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost Madzie...."

As if on cue, Madzie sang out "Look Kit! I caught a butterfly! Kit! Look!"

Kit laughed at the expression on her face when she opened her hands and the butterfly escaped. "That's awesome, Mads! Try and catch it again!"

Alec chuckled too when Magnus fell down onto the grass in exhaustion and when Madzie jumped on top of him. "How did you two meet? And who claimed who as their sibling first?"

Kit sighed. "We met at the farm obviously. She got tossed into my pen because the other ones were too crowded and I was the only one who had their own cage. She was small so she fit easily in it with me."

He continued after clearing his throat several times. "She saw me as a protector and I felt like I had to protect her so I guess it just came naturally for her to start calling me her brother. I didn't mind. I was an only child growing up so having a little sister was nice. Gave me a chance to do all those big brother things I've always wanted to do."

"I understand," said Alec. "She's very attached to you and it's obvious she loves you dearly."

"Yeah," Kit snorted. "I love her too. There's not a thing in this world that I wouldn't do for her."

Madzie raced over to them holding her hands together in front of her. "I caught it again! Wanna see, Kit?"

Kit leaned forward as she opened her hands to show off the butterfly. "Good job! But you can't keep it though."

Her lip quivered. "Why not?"

"Because it doesn't belong to us. So you have to let it go," he told her.

Hesitant at first, she eventually opened her hands and watched as the butterfly fluttered away before bursting into tears. Kit scooped her up onto his lap and held her tight, whispering calming words into her ear as she cried.

Magnus stepped up onto the porch just as Madzie started to cry. "Oh. What happened? What did I miss?"

Alec pulled him off to the side. "Magnus. We can't let them go off on their own again. It's not safe for them to be out there by themselves."

Magnus looked over Alec's shoulder at the kids. "Did Kit say something to you?"

With a sigh, Alec nodded. "Yeah. He told me what her nightmare was about. It's bad, Magnus. Worse than we could have ever imagined."

Madzie had stopped crying. When both men looked at the kids they saw Blue Bell nuzzling into Madzie's neck with her wet nose, causing the little girl to giggle and hug Blue's neck.

"So what are you saying?" Magnus asked.

"I'm saying....we should probably keep them-and I know what you're thinking. They're just two more mouths to feed that we can't afford to feed-"

"Oh. Quite the opposite, actually. I've grown quite attached to Madzie during our ten minute chase together. Turns out you really bond with someone when you're both chasing chickens."

Alec chuckled. "So that's a yes? We're taking them in?"

Magnus cupped Alec's cheek with a hand. "It's a yes. They can stay-"

"We're staying?!" Kit's voice squeaked from behind them. "Sorry. I wasn't trying to listen but I couldn't help but eavesdrop. But we're allowed to stay?!"

Alec put a broad hand on the boy's shoulder. "Yes. The both of you are staying with us for as long as you'd like. What do you think, Madzie? Would you like to stay with us?"

Madzie scratched her chin. "Can I chase the cow around too?"

Magnus started wheezing with laughter. "I don't think our old girl can run very fast. But Blue here loves a good chase. Don't you Blue?"

Blue Bell's tail wagged furiously on her behind.

"Then it's settled. You're staying with us," said Alec. He fell back suddenly against the wooden porch when Madzie jumped into his arms and embraced him in a hug.

Kit stuck out his hand for Magnus to shake. "Thank you so much, sir. I don't think Madzie would've survived out there in the wild anyway. Neither of us would have."

Magnus ignored Kit's hand. Instead he yanked him in for a hug. "Bring it in, kid. You're my son now. Call me dad."

Kit cringed. "Yeah....I don't think I know you well enough to start calling you that."

Magnus shrugged. "Fair enough. Baby steps."

Madzie listened in on the conversation while squishing Alec's cheeks. "Hey Alec?"

Through squished cheeks, Alec said "Yeah, sweet pea?"

"Can I call you and Magnus by your names too?"

Alec had to choke back a laugh. "I was expecting you to say something entirely different. But sure. You can call us whatever you want."

A broad smile appeared on her face. "Okay. Thank you for letting me and my brother stay."

It had been a while since Alec felt the warm hug of a child. Max had been gone for so long that he almost forgot what it was like to have a tiny set of arms wrapped you because they loved you so much.

Inhaling and sighing deeply, Alec hugged her back. "You're safe here with us. No one is ever going to hurt you ever again. You understand?"

Kit nodded while Madzie played with Alec's hair.

"Great! Now that we got that out of the way," Magnus said, clapping his hands together. "Those eggs aren't going to collect themselves. Who wants to go egg hunting with me?"


	4. Let The Right One In

The first broadcast that announced the zombie apocalypse went something like this:

_Due to a number of incidents involving people becoming violent and biting others, the authorities have issued a nation wide request for civilians to report any suspicious behavior to your local police station. If you or someone you know have any information, please call this number_

The second one came a few days later. It was much more serious than the first, and it announced that a pandemic had broken loose across the country. This was the first public announcement about the virus.

_The government of the United States of America has officially declared our country under the siege of a viral outbreak. Civilians are advised to stay indoors until further instructions. The following symptoms are a sign that someone is or could be infected with the virus: Excessive sweating, high fever, abnormally pale skin/grayish-green, white film developing over eyes, loss of speech, has died but suddenly came back to life_

The third and final broadcast was short and sweet, ending radio updates on the outbreak.

_God save us all_

Radios were mainly silent these days apart from the rare broadcast from people trying to get in contact with other groups but getting a decent signal was even more rare. Alec only ever heard one broadcast in the six years he'd been surviving and it was a brief announcement that the world was gone to shit therefore there were no rules anymore.

"There's got to be rules," Alec had said to his family back in Alicante. "Otherwise we'd be living in chaos."

Both Magnus and Alec made sure there were rules around the farm for the kids to follow. Though Kit and Madzie mostly had free range on the land, the rules were mainly put in place to protect them from getting hurt.

"So where are you originally from?" Magnus asked as both he and Kit began to chop some wood. 

"Originally from? Like where was I born and living before the apocalypse?" Kit asked.

Magnus shrugged. "Doesn't matter which. You can tell me whatever you feel like telling me."

Kit let his axe swing down onto a slab of wood. "I don't remember much. I was 8 when things went down but I do remember being in Los Angeles at one point. Whether it was before or after, I can't remember."

"Los Angeles?" Magnus whistled. "You're a long way from LA, kid. That's practically on the other side of the world in teen terms."

Kit gave him a look. "I'm not one of those gullible teens you're probably used to seeing and being around. I know LA is on the other side of the country. Not the other side of the world."

Magnus raised a hand in surrender. "I apologize. You seem like a smart kid. Maybe things really have changed in adolescents these days."

This was a topic Kit wanted to avoid completely so he quickly chopped another piece of wood to change the conversation. "Yeah. Maybe-listen. Where does Alec go most days anyway? He's always gone when I wake up in the morning."

For the last week since the kids showed up, Alec had been going out on scavenges to see if he could find anything fitting for them; clothes, toys, books. Basically anything that would make them feel more at home and more comfortable. Only Magnus was up early enough in the morning to know what he was doing and where he was going. Or so he thought.

"Alec," Magnus grunted as he let his ax slam into a chunk of wood, "is out looking for stuff for you guys. He's been doing this for a week now."

Kit scrunched his face. "Stuff? What kind of stuff?"

"You know. Stuff to help make you guys feel at home here. Clothes. Toys for Madzie. Maybe some books for you-oh and definitely a new pair of shoes. You're definitely not my size shoe."

Kit looked down at his feet. "These were the boots given to me at the last place."

Magnus nodded. "And you'll be getting a new pair soon enough. We just have to wait and see what Alec brings back from his scavenger hunt."

Over in the barn, Madzie was sitting down on a haystack while coloring in a coloring book that Alec managed to find for her. She didn't mind that she only had a few crayons, even if they were mostly the color blue. She loved everything that Alec brought home to her mainly because he was the one who took care of her and Kit now.

"Hey Mads. What are you coloring over there?"

Madzie looked up at the sound of Kit's weird voice. "I'm coloring a frog. I don't have the right green though..."

Kit shrugged. "Make it blue. I'm sure there's blue frogs out there somewhere. Just use your imagination."

Just use your imagination. He'd always tell her this when he didn't want to continue talking to her or explain something. Madzie just huffed and went back to coloring again.

"Did you know," Magnus suddenly appeared by her side, "some species of frogs have red stripes on them?"

Madzie looked up at him. "What's a species?"

Magnus smiled softly. "Species means a type of something. So when I say a species of frog I mean a type of frog."

Madzie nodded. "Is it a tiger frog? If it has stripes?"

A laugh escaped Magnus. "I don't think so. This type of frog has stripes because it's poisonous. The red stripes is a warning to other animals that it can hurt them if it wanted to."

Madzie shut her coloring book with forgotten interest in her artwork. "Can you find any here, Magnus? Striped frogs?"

"I'm afraid not, button. They live somewhere else in the world. But!" He leaned in and gently tapped the tip of her nose with a finger. "You can catch normal, not poisonous frogs here on the farm sometimes. We just have to wait for a rainy day."

She giggled and raced away back towards the house, almost bumping into Kit on the way out. He shifted to the side so that she wouldn't collide into him, exclaiming in surprise.

"Eyes up when you run, Madzie! You need to watch where you're going!" He called out but it fell on deaf ears as his sister took off to the porch. "Was anything you said to her true?"

Magnus looked up from the bucket of water that he was cleaning his face with. "About what?"

"The frogs and stuff. I don't want you filling her head with crap that isn't true."

Magnus straightened his back, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've been on this earth much longer than you have, Kit. I think I know what I'm talking about. Plus I wouldn't fill her head with 'crap that isn't true'. I have no reason to."

Before Kit could retort, Madzie yelled "Alec's back!" from the porch step. He turned and saw Alec coming towards them with a full looking backpack, with Madzie and Blue Bell close at his heels.

"I went into town," he told Magnus. "So before you start yelling at me for going in without backup, let me just say that it was pretty quiet for the most part. Only encountered three dead Forsaken and that was on the way out."

Madzie tugged on his coat with a hand. "What did you bring back? Did you find any toys?"

Alec smiled down at her. "As a matter of fact, I did. They're a little old but they should still serve their purpose."

He opened his backpack and pulled out a couple of dolls. They were Barbie dolls, Magnus knew that much, and they were still inside their packages. Untouched by child hands.

"What are these?" Madzie asked. She inspected the boxes carefully even though she couldn't read what they said.

"Um," Alec cleared his throat. "They're called dolls. You can brush their hair and play pretend with them. You can even change their clothes if you wanted to."

Madzie looked at the dolls one final time before shrugging and opening them up. She seemed content with how they looked and felt so she was soon racing back towards the porch to start playing with them.

"As for you," Alec said to Kit. "I got you some clothes-same with Madzie. Plus I got you a few books too. Not sure if you'll like them or not but it doesn't hurt to take a look at them anyway."

Kit took the couple of books that Alec removed from his bag. "Thanks. I'm not much of a reader but I'm too old to be playing with toys. So books are the only thing that helps pass the time."

Magnus let out a grunt of disagreement. "Nonsense. Though I love books, there are lots of ways to pass time. Alec here can teach you to use a weapon if you wanted. I think he's old enough to handle himself. Don't you agree, Alexander?"

Kit turned to Alec, glee on his face. "Seriously? You'll let me use a gun?!"

"Maybe not a gun. A knife or maybe even a bow. But not a gun. Absolutely not." Alec saw the look on Magnus' face and sighed. "What? He might hurt himself!"

"Max was younger than him when he used a gun," Magnus pointed out, his voice soft. "He saved you once. Remember?"

Alec did remember. It was when they were escaping the horde in Alicante. He was struggling to get over the fence and a Forsaken had grabbed his ankle when a gun went off. Turns out his baby brother Max had shot the zombie in the head and it freed Alec from its grip.

Sighing, Alec waved a hand. "Fine. Maybe we'll work our way up to guns. But for now we'll stick with non-reloadables."

Kit raised an eyebrow. "Don't you technically have to reload your bow each time? Those arrows don't just shoot themselves."

Magnus made a face. "Smartass. Go over to your sister before I notch you onto a bow and fire you into the sky." He watched as Kit just smirked and did as he was told, making his way over to where Madzie was playing with her dolls on the porch. "Kids these days. They think they know it all."

"At least we know one thing hasn't changed," Alec pointed out. "Max used to be the same way. Thought he knew it all."

Magnus chuckled. "I remember that. I miss the little guy even if he did draw a gun on me when we first met."

Alec smiled. "I remember that too. He was so proud of himself that day."

Magnus laid a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. "As should you. He was a good kid. Takes after his brother I suppose."

An angry howl from Madzie made both men look towards the porch. Madzie was hitting Kit over the head with a doll while yelling at him. Kit looked unimpressed but took the beating nonetheless.

"They're my dolls! You can't have them!" Madzie yelled at the top of her tiny lungs.

"I didn't say I-ow!" Kit covered an eye with a hand as the foot of the doll poked him. "I didn't say I did! I just wanted to look at it!"

Alec sighed and made his way over to the kids. "Hey now. What's going on here?"

Madzie pointed at her brother. "Kit tried to take my doll!"

Kit pointed at Madzie. "No I didn't! Dolls are for girls anyway!"

Alec snatched Madzie up in his arms before she could pounce on Kit. "Okay. That's enough from the two of you. Madzie, Kit only wanted to look at your dolls. Kit, you need to ask before you just take things that aren't yours."

"Also," Magnus chimed in, "dolls are for anyone who's interested in them. Not just girls. I had a few myself when I was a child. They're good for the imagination."

Alec nodded. "Magnus is right. Now apologize to Madzie please."

Kit grumbled something under his breath. "Fine. Sorry, Mads."

Madzie gave him a final smack on the head with her doll. "It's okay. Did you still wanna play with me?"

Glancing from Alec to Magnus, Kit sighed heavily and nodded. "Sure. Why not."

Alec set Madzie down. She immediately kneeled next to Kit and began to explain to him who the dolls were and what they did for a living and he couldn't help but smile at them as they played together.

"Father of the year," Magnus whispered in his ear. "That was some excellent parenting skills there, handsome."

"Please," Alec snorted. "That's just years of scorning Max for not being nice to the other kids kicking in again. I'm not a parent."

Magnus winked. "Not yet, anyway."

They put Madzie to bed later that night around 8:30. Kit stayed up in his room reading his new books by the candlelight, so Alec decided to read to Madzie before she went to sleep.

"Which one would you like me to read?" He asked her once she was under the covers.

She scanned the three books he held out to her and picked one out. "This one."

Alec smiled broadly at her choice. "Dr. Seuss? Good choice. You'll like this one. It has lots of silly rhymes in it."

So he began to read to her. She was cuddled up beside him on the bed, head resting against his chest, occasionally giggling at something he read out loud or asking a question about a word she didn't know. Halfway through the story, Alec draped an arm around her small shoulders which only made her cuddle into him even more.

Magnus stood in the doorway, listening to Alec's deep voice caress every word as he read them off their pages. He always did love Alec's voice; whether he was merely talking about his hunting trip or even now as he read a book aloud to Madzie, it was a voice that he would always remember and never forget.

"....you're off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way."

With the book now finished , Alec closed it with a hand before placing it on the table beside the bed. "Did you enjoy that story?"

Madzie nodded. "One more!"

Magnus chuckled from the doorway. "Maybe tomorrow, sweet pea. We can read all the books you want and we'll visit all the fantastical places the pages have to offer us. For now you need sleep. That means you too, Kit!"

From his room, Kit groaned. "One more chapter!"

Alec grinned as Magnus rolled his eyes. "Alright! One more chapter and then it's lights out-and don't forget to blow out the candle when you're done! We don't need you burning down the house with us inside it."

"So you're saying I can burn the house down when we're not inside it?" The teenager called back.

"Boy, do you want a roof over your head or not?" Magnus snapped.

A pause. "Yes."

Madzie giggled from her bed as Alec rolled his eyes and tucked her in. "Can we read tomorrow after breakfast?"

"We absolutely can. We can even sit outside and read if it's not too cold. How does that sound?" Alec tapped the tip of her nose with a finger and laughed. "Sweet dreams, button."

She waved as they made their way towards the door. "See you later alligator."

Magnus made a chomping motion with his hands and fingers. "After a while crocodile."

Kit's candle was out when they walked by his room. When Alec shone a flashlight in at him, both he and Magnus saw that the teen was passed out on his bed, mouth open with his book on his chest.

"That didn't take long," Magnus whispered.

"He had a long day chopping wood with you. He's probably exhausted." Alec left the door open about an inch or two before tiptoeing behind Magnus downstairs. "I've had a long day myself. If only someone could massage my shoulders...."

Magnus almost leaned into the kiss when he suddenly pulled away and cleared his throat. "Not right now."

Alec cocked his head. "What's wrong?"

Magnus pointed to the stairs. "The kids are just upstairs."

Alec sighed, annoyed that the kids were in fact upstairs. "So I can't kiss my boyfriend?"

Magnus laughed softly and cupped Alec's face. "Oh you know how we get. Tomorrow, okay? I promise."

Alec huffed. "Tomorrow. And I'm holding you to that promise."

\----------

It was sunny the next day. As promised, Alec read another book to Madzie. It was another Dr Seuss story, which she really seemed to like, and he read that one twice to her while Kit and Magnus tended to the animals.

"So. You like Dr Seuss?" Alec asked Madzie when they finished the book a second time.

She nodded. "He's funny and he rhymes."

Alec smiled. He was about to take out another book when the loud rumble of an engine grabbed his attention. Leaning to the left on the porch swing to look past the side of the house, he saw a dark green pickup truck slowly making its way down the driveway.

"Madzie!" Kit exclaimed. He made his way up the porch, scooped his sister up in his arms and raced into the house before Alec even had a chance to ask what was wrong.

Magnus saw the truck too. He was in the barn brushing their horse, Daffodil, when he heard the engine. It sounded like a person wheezing for air; definitely a sound he'd never forget.

A man climbed out once the truck stopped moving. He was tall and slim, with long hair tied back into a ponytail. He smiled once he saw Magnus in the barn, waving to show how friendly he was.

"Hello there! Sorry to bother you but I'm from a few counties over and I'm looking for my kids. Have you seen them?" He asked.

Alec felt his heart leap into his throat. He swallowed before answering the stranger. "And who might you be?"

The stranger bowed. "Sorry. Got ahead of myself there. I'm Lorenzo Rey. I own a produce farm a little ways away. Nice to meet you."

Magnus was hesitant about shaking Lorenzo's hand but did so eventually. "Magnus. And this my boyfriend Alec."

Lorenzo nodded. "Magnus. Alec. Pleasure. As I said, I don't mean to bother you. My kids went missing about a week ago and I haven't seen them since. You wouldn't mind if I came inside for a bit? It was a long drive and I wouldn't mind a drink to quench my thirst."

At the mention of kids, Magnus crossed his arms over his chest. "We haven't seen any kids in over a year."

Beside him, Blue Bell rumbled a low growl while baring her sharp canines. Alec rarely saw her as threatening as she was now; the only time he ever saw her reveal her teeth was when she smiling.

Lorenzo looked past Magnus' shoulder towards the backyard. "Haven't seen any children in over a year, you say? Then why is my girl's jacket hung up on your clothesline?"

Things suddenly moved so quickly that Alec almost didn't have time to react. Lorenzo had taken out a knife from his pocket and brandished it, making a move to stab Magnus. But Alec stepped in between them and raised his arms to stop the knife from bearing down onto Magnus. The knife tore open the skin on his forearm, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Magnus! Get the kids and get out of here!" He grunted in exertion while trying to fight off Lorenzo.

"What about you?!" Magnus yelled over the ruckus of the fight as well as Blue's frenzied barking.

Alec punched his attacker in the stomach. "I'll catch up! Just go to the rendezvous point!"

Magnus nodded and raced inside the house. The kids were nowhere to be seen so he immediately checked the upstairs bedrooms. Kit's room was empty, so he checked Madzie's. When he made it to the doorway he was met with the sound of a gun clicking.

Magnus froze. Kit froze too and looked apologetic as he realized that it was only Magnus in the doorway so he put the gun down. Madzie ran into Magnus' arms, tears streaming down her face.

"It's him. Isn't it?" Kit rasped. "Outside. I recognized the sound of his truck when he pulled up."

Magnus nodded. "It's him. Alec's outside now trying to fight him off so that gives us enough time to make a run for it to the meet up point. Do you think you can do that?"

Kit nodded. "Yeah. I can do that."

"Good. Now take your sister and run to the rendezvous. I'll be right behind you. Don't look back."

"You're not coming with us?!" Kit exclaimed over his shoulder as Magnus pushed him towards the stairs.

"Don't worry about me. Just get your sister out of here. You hang on to your brother, Madzie. Don't let go of him."

Madzie nodded as Kit picked her up into his arms.

"Okay. Go. Now!" Magnus gave them a shove. Kit raced downstairs and from the bedroom window, Magnus could see Kit take off towards the woods as fast as he could with Madzie in his arms.

He grabbed their emergency bags that both he and Alec packed a week ago with the essentials such as food, water, clothes. They were thoughtfully put together because Alec strongly believed that the man who held the kids captive would come looking for them eventually. Over the course of the year and a half that they've been together, Magnus learned that if Alec had a gut feeling about something, he had to go with it because it was usually right.

Once the bags were grabbed, he made his way towards the woods without looking back over his shoulder where Alec was still outside fighting Lorenzo. He could hear cries of pain, which sounded oddly like Alec's, but didn't dare look back.

Kit jumped in fright when Magnus ran towards them. "Magnus? Where's Alec? Is he okay?"

Magnus gulped down as much air as he could before answering. "He's fine. He's just...getting a few extra things before we leave."

Madzie wiped her tear stained eyes. "Why are we leaving the farm? Why can't we stay?"

Magnus offered her a comforting smile. "It's not safe there for us right now, sweetie. But don't worry about the animals. The barn doors are open so they can go where they please."

Madzie nodded but said nothing more.

Twigs cracked close to where they were hidden in the brush. Magnus immediately raised his gun, poised to shoot, but relaxed when he saw it was only Alec. "Alexander. Jesus, you scared us."

Alec stumbled towards them. He didn't look too good; there was a cut on his forehead and his face had seen better days. His arm also looked like it was soaked in blood.

"Alec!" Madzie yelled. "Are you okay?"

Alec chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay. Most of this blood isn't mine. My arm is bleeding but that can be easily bandaged."

Magnus cupped his neck and kissed him fervently. "I'm glad you're okay. Remind me to take a look at your wounds later once were far enough away from here."

Kit glanced past Alec towards the house. "What did you do to him?"

Alec looked at Kit. "Lorenzo? Don't....don't worry about him. He's been taken care of."

Magnus gathered Madzie in his arms when she tugged on his sleeve to be picked up. "You're safe now, sweet pea. You both are."

For the first time it felt like Kit could finally breathe. "Thank you. Both of you. What you did for us....you didn't have to do but you did anyway. Why?"

Magnus glanced at Alec. "We're a family now. Family takes care of family. Right?"

Blue Bell barked enthusiastically, causing the little group to laugh at her antics.

"Alright. Let's get the hell out of here before things get worse. Do you guys have everything you need from the house?" When the kids nodded, Alec ruffled Kit's hair affectionately. "Good. Because we could be out in the wild for a while. What's our motto?"

At the same time, Kit and Madzie said "No place is safe. Only safer."

Alec smiled. "Exactly."


	5. On The Road Again

Madzie found some train tracks as they were walking along a dirt road. Since she'd never seen anything like them before, she hit them with a rock and laughed at the reverberation it caused.

"What are these things?" She asked when Alec approached her.

"Those," Alec grunted as he knelt down, "are called train tracks. Back in the day there were these big machines called trains that people used for travelling to different places and carrying items across the country."

Madzie made an "o" with her lips. "Where are all the trains now?"

Alec shrugged. "No idea. I guess they stopped working a long time ago and no one could fix them. Right now they're just good for walking across them. See?"

He balanced himself on the metal plank and slowly walked along the track as if he were on a tightrope. Outstretching his arms for balance, he looked over his shoulder to see Madzie copying him. She was much smaller than him so keeping balance was a lot easier for her as she walked along the track.

"Look Alec! I'm doing it!" She cried. It must've been so exciting for her, finding the train tracks and copying what Alec was doing. The look on her face said it all: she was very happy.

"Be careful, Madzie! You could fall and hurt yourself!" Kit called from about twenty feet behind. He'd been watching her attentively to make sure she didn't slip and fall flat on her face as she played on the tracks.

"Relax. Let her live. Besides," Magnus clapped Kit on the shoulder, "she was born after the apocalypse started. She's never seen or heard of a train before. This is new and exciting stuff for her."

Kit huffed. "But-"

"No buts. Imagine growing up in a world where all you've ever known is running from the undead and having no knowledge of the old one. How does that sound?"

Kit shrugged. "Not cool, I guess. I have a few memories of before this all happened but I can see where you're coming from. She was born after it began. She didn't even know what to do with a doll."

Magnus nodded. "Exactly. So just let her be. Alec got a close eye on her. He won't let anything happen to your sister. Okay?"

Madzie giggled from up ahead as Alec let her jump on his back for a ride. She looked so happy and carefree that for a moment Kit forgot the kind of world that they lived in. It had been so long that he saw her genuinely happy. There was nothing to be happy about back on Lorenzo's farm. There were only two things to feel: fear and sadness.

"You okay? You zoned out there for a minute," Magnus asked, concern both in his voice and on his face.

Kit shook his head as if the thoughts could be shaken out of his mind. "Yeah. I'm good. Just thinking about what would've happened if I hadn't gotten Madzie out when I did."

Magnus sighed. "You don't mean our farm, do you?" Kit shook his head. "Of course. You meant Lorenzo's. I guarantee you that it was fate that brought you both to me and Alec. Someone out there in the universe wanted us to meet. You just got to take that little grain of hope and hang onto it for as long as you can."

From up ahead, Alec continued to balance along the railroad tracks with Madzie attached to his back like a koala. She didn't weigh much so carrying her didn't bother him.

"Where are we going?" She asked him out of the blue.

Alec didn't have a decent answer for her so he said "Remember in Oh The Places You'll Go that your mountain is waiting?"

He felt her squirm on his back. "I like that book."

"I know you do," Alec chuckled. "We're going to your mountain, button. Just like in the story."

At the mention of a mountain, she hugged his neck even tighter while singing out "Kit! We're going to my mountain!"

Kit shouted back. "What mountain? You don't have a mountain!"

"Yes I do! Alec said so!"

Magnus hushed Kit before he could yell back. "I really don't think we should be yelling so loudly out here. There could be Forsaken around."

Forsaken. It still struck both Magnus and Alec as weird that there hasn't been a single Forsaken around in months. Magnus had a theory that they migrated south to Mexico for a warmer climate. Alec guessed they were all just dying out from starvation. Kit suggested they were both being stupid while Madzie said maybe the zombies just stopped picking on people.

"Don't give me that look," Magnus grumbled when he noticed that Kit was giving him the stink eye. "Anything or anyone could be out here. So it's best we keep the noise level to a minimum."

Kit snorted but said nothing as they continued along the tracks.

After an hour of walking, they finally stopped for something to eat. They hadn't packed much; a few apple slices, some meat that Alec managed to cook that morning, and some rice that Magnus so carefully grew in the field along with a few other vegetables.

"Alright. Eat up. We need our strength. Kit." Alec tossed him a baggy of apple slices. "Divvy that up between you and your sister. She likes apples."

Kit nodded, ignoring Madzie's grabby hands as she kept trying to steal the bag from his reach. Blue Bell watched the food being shared back and forth and whined, only to earn herself a piece of meat in response.

"Magnus," Alec said, reaching into the backpack. "I have your favorite. Peanut butter granola bar."

Magnus took the bar with a smirk. "Ah. You really do know how to capture my heart, don't you?"

They kissed, causing Kit to gag as he ate. Madzie just smiled and clapped her hands while she chewed her slices of apple.

"Can you guys find a tree to do that behind or something? I'm trying to eat here," Kit groaned in disgust.

Magnus pulled away from Alec for a moment to glare at him. "In this day and age, two men expressing love for one another shouldn't be such a big deal. So don't look then if it grosses you out."

Kit started to say something but just ended up rolling his eyes. "I wasn't grossed out by two guys kissing but whatever."

"Kit's just scared he's gonna catch your cooties!" Madzie giggled, earning herself a glare from her brother.

Magnus couldn't help but laugh. "Cute. Cooties are still a thing. Can you believe that?"

They ate the rest of their small lunch before setting off again. Alec insisted on following the train tracks because they'd eventually lead to a town whereas Magnus wanted to go deeper into the woods.

"Maybe a town isn't our best option right now," Magnus suggested. "The last sliver of civilization we had didn't exactly turn out too well."

Kit glanced up at Alec. "What does he mean by that?"

Alec shook his head. "Not now. I'll tell you some other time when you know who isn't listening," he booped Madzie on the nose with a finger. "Come on. We'll stop at that shack ahead and camp there overnight."

The shack was actually a small cabin made for one person with a fireplace in the center and a single twin size bed next to it. It looked and smelled old; the wood was rotting in some places and there was a hole in the ceiling just above the kitchen table.

"Not exactly a five star hotel but it'll be good enough for now," Alec said, placing his backpack on the table. "I can patch up the hole with that piece of tarp outside. That should do the trick."

Kit grimaced at the state of the cabin. "I suppose I've been in worse situations....but where do we...you know...."

"Excrete?" Magnus grinned when Kit made a face of disgust. "Outside, obviously. You're not going to find any fancy indoor plumbing nowadays, kiddo. It's all wilderness from here on out. You poo where you put your shoe."

This made Kit gag again. He didn't want to think about using the bathroom outside. At least back at Lorenzo's they had a place to go when they needed to.

Magnus in turn set his backpack down and dusted off the table with a hand. "Sweet pea. Why don't you sit here for a bit and play with your toys while Alec fixes the hole in the roof."

Madzie hopped up onto the chair. "Then can we play dolls?"

Magnus smiled. "We certainly can. Just be patient, okay? Hey Kit?Watch over your sister while I go out to help Alec."

Outside, Alec opened up the tarp to see if it was good enough to cover the roof. There didn't seem to be any holes in it, or at least none that he could see. The only problem was keeping it secure and in place above the cabin.

"Running into problems already?" Magnus suddenly appeared beside him

"Ah." Alec dropped the tarp to the ground. "I guess you could say that. I don't have anything to secure it to the roof. No nails. Nothing. Rocks won't work because they'll just fall right off the side."

Taking a quick look at the cabin, Magnus said "There's a town close by. I'll go to the hardware store and pick up a few things."

"No. I'll go. I'll take Kit with me too. He needs to learn the ins and outs of scavenging anyway." Alec pecked Magnus on the cheek and smiled. "Take care of Madzie while we're gone. We won't be long."

When the cabin door opened again, Kit looked up to see Alec step inside and grab his backpack. "Where are you going now?" He asked.

"You and I are going into town to pick up a few supplies. Magnus will stay here with Madzie. Same with Blue." Alec tossed Kit his backpack. "Gear up, little man. This is your first big scavenging mission."

Kit looked ecstatic and immediately slipped the bag over his shoulders. "Seriously?! I get to go with you?!"

"Yes. Now the first rule of scavenging is to keep your voice down. Sound travels," Alec told him.

Magnus laughed as he sat next to Madzie. "Shouldn't be too hard. He sounds like a mite anyway."

Kit was about to retort when Alec grabbed him by the collar and led him outside. "Hey! What's the big deal?"

"The big deal," Alec sighed, "is that you should never pick a fight with Magnus. Especially one of wits. He always wins. Now focus. We don't know who or what is in the town so I need you at 100%. Got it?"

Kit nodded. "Got it. I won't let you down."

The town was only small. Alec knew this right away because of the shops that lined each side of the street. One of them was an old fashioned shoe making and shoe shining store so this place couldn't have had more than 1,000 people when it was at its prime. Luckily, they weren't looking to get their shoes shined. They needed to find a hardware store.

"All this stuff....nobody thought to take any of it with them?" Kit whispered. He had peered into a shop window and saw piles of clothes strewn everywhere.

"Not everyone had time to grab much, Kit. Families came first. Everything else was secondary." Alec found the store they needed, taking out his bow and notching an arrow into it. "We're here. Now take out your weapon and keep it ready."

Kit took out his crowbar wig a sigh. "I need a better weapon than a crowbar, Alec. Can't I have a gun? Or a bow like you?"

Alec hushed him. "We'll talk about that later. Stay sharp."

The shop was empty. Even when Alec opened the door and the bell jingled, nothing happened. If any Forsaken had been inside they would've heard the noise and reacted immediately. But the shop remained silent as they both stepped inside.

"Okay. Looks clear." Alec said in a low voice, putting his bow away. "Next rule is always be mindful of what to take. Sometimes something worth taking isn't really something worth taking."

Kit scratched his head. "You lost me."

Alec sighed. "Just....ask me if something might be useful or not. I'll let you know if it is."

They searched around the shop for anything that might be of use. The main goal was nails and a hammer but the more they walked around the more they saw that this place was a goldmine for supplies.

"Why don't we just take a toolbox and fill it up?" Kit asked from across the room.

"Good idea. Now you're thinking like a scavenger," Alec replied. He looked over at the teen just in time to see a broad smile on the boy's face. "Just make sure you don't fill it up to the point where we can't put anything else inside."

There was no point in getting electric tools so Alec took a box and filled it with mostly nails and screws. A few screwdrivers caught his eye too so he neatly packed them away into his toolbox. He was about to close it up when a loud crash made him jump and immediately make a grab for his bow.

Kit stumbled out of a back room. Even in the dark he looked deathly pale and was struggling to stand upright as Alec approached his side. "I....I don't know what...."

"Hey. Relax. What happened?" Taking Kit's arm to steady him, Alec continued to speak. "What did you see?"

Gulping, Kit pointed into a doorway. "It's in there."

Whatever "it" was sounded ominous so Alec raised his weapon just in case. Kit wasn't a practical joker so he knew this wasn't some prank. "Stay here. Shine your light in only when I tell you to. Okay?"

The room was pitch black but there was a gurgling sound coming from inside that Alec couldn't quite put his finger on. It sounded as if someone was drowning or choking on something, which only got louder the further he went into the darkness.

"Alright. Shine your light. I'm in far enough," Alec whispered back to Kit.

The flashlight clicked on, and what it revealed in the room almost made Alec throw up. In front of him, just a few feet away, was a crib. Inside the crib was a small toddler except it was wasn't fully a toddler.

It was a Forsaken.

"Jesus...." Alec breathed, lowering his bow.

"Do you see it? What is that thing?" Kit whispered from the doorway.

The Forsaken toddler let out a growl and reached through the bars of the crib. It's skin was gray and the eyes that stared with cruelty and hunger back at Alec were covered in a white film. Alec had to look away before he lost control of his stomach contents.

"Let's go, Kit. There's nothing else to see here," he backed out of the room and shut the door behind him.

"You're not going to kill it?" Kit asked in surprise. "It could get out-"

"It won't. It hasn't in a long time. And it's not hurting anyone so therefore I'm not...." Alec breathed out a sigh while nudging Kit towards the entrance of the store. "Come on. Let's go see what other goodies are here waiting for us."

As they scanned the streets for any other shops that caught ther interest, Kit saw a barbershop that advertised haircuts for men and shaving services. He stopped outside the glass window, looking in at the old fashioned instruments used.

"Hey....Alec?" He called out. "Come here for a second."

Alec stopped to look back at the teen. "Yeah? What's up?"

Embarrassment was evident on Kit's face. He started to turn red around the cheeks and ears as he tried to find the right words to say. "Uh....do you think you can....teach me to shave sometime?"

This caught Alec by surprise. "Yeah. Of course. You've never done it before?"

Kit shrugged. "No one was around to teach me."

They were both quiet for a few minutes. Alec could understand why; Kit was going through an awkward phase in life, which was even more awkward because of the situation around them. Being a teenager during the zombie apocalypse couldn't have been easy.

"Can you wait here for a minute? I want to go grab some stuff inside. Magnus and I need some razors anyway," Alec finally said after the silence became uncomfortable enough.

Kit nodded. He watched Alec go into the shop the same as he did with the hardware store (weapon up, body alert), picked up a few supplies and was out again in minutes.

Alec showed him a razor with a smile. "You know you actually need facial hair in order for this to work right?"

"Fuck off," Kit growled back. "I have a little bit growing. It's not a full on Duck Dynasty beard but I can feel a little growing on my chin and jaw-look. Can you not make this any more awkward than it needs to be?"

Alec chuckled. "Sorry. I've never had a chance to do any of this with my youngest brother so this is entirely new territory for me."

Kit fell silent. "You mean Max?"

"Yeah. He died when he was 9. So the whole helping him through puberty thing never happened. So....if you have any questions, don't be scared to ask me or Magnus. We went through it too."

There was one question that had plagued Kit's mind since he turned 14. "There is one. Is it....normal for....hair....."

Alec could see that Kit couldn't finish the sentence so he finished it off instead. "Is it normal for hair to grow down there? Yes. It is. As it is on your face, under the armpits, on your arms, chest, legs, sometimes your back-"

"My back?!" Kit gagged. "I'm not growing into an adult. I'm turning into fucking Sasquatch!" He immediately stiffened with a wince. "No offence. But your height and hairy self doesn't exactly help with this conversation."

"None taken." Alec stepped over a broken telephone pole, helping Kit do the same. "Now as for your voice. You might've noticed some changes-"

Kit's snort of amusement interrupted him. "Oh did I ever. One minute I sound like a mite and the next a trombone comes out of me. Will it ever stop?"

They both froze when they heard a noise come from behind a garbage bin. A raccoon raced out, freezing as well when it saw them, then raced across the road with a squeak.

Alec relaxed his muscles in relief. "To answer your question, yes. Eventually it'll settle. This isn't a permanent phase, Kit. It'll deepen over time," Alec told him.

Kit nodded. "Okay. And by the way.....my name is Christopher. Kit is just a nickname."

Moved by Kit's trust in him, Alec smiled and ruffled his hair. "I like Kit better anyway."

They exited the town with their supplies in hand. Neither of them expected to get so much more out of their trip than they thought they would. Only the material aspect of that was obvious when they returned to the cabin and Magnus saw them approach with full backpacks and their toolboxes.

"Look at you. Did you bring the entire town back with you?" He laughed, peering into the bags. "Razors. God yes. I've been itching to shave for days now. Madzie says I hurt her face when I blow raspberries on her cheek."

"No kidding," Alec said while winking at Kit. "If you don't mind, Kit would like to join us and watch as we get rid of our Duck Dynasty beards."

This prompted Magnus to look at the boy. "No kidding? So he wants to become a man, huh? Well he can join us anytime. You'll hear no arguments from me."

Kit mouthed "thank you" before going into the cabin to join his sister at the kitchen table.

"You're amazing." Alec kissed Magnus on the cheek. "You're great with him. Madzie too."

"Yeah well," Magnus shrugged, "I'm just amazing all around. I'll show you how even more amazing I am if you let me help you nail the tarp to the roof."

Alec grinned crookedly. "You'll hear no arguments from me."


	6. Intel In The Forest

"Raise your right arm a little more. Pull the string back as far as you can-that's it. Now look at your target and not the arrow. That's the key to hitting what you want to hit."

Kit's arms screamed in protest as he tried to pull the string back as far as he could. "Like this?"

Alec nodded. "Good. Focus on your target and take a deep breath. Release the arrow when you breathe out."

Breathing out, Kit let go of the string. The arrow that had been notched back in it went flying but it hit a tree instead of the target, which was a mannequin from a clothing store in town.

"Shit!" Kit swore. "I can't do this! I suck at everything!"

"Hey. You don't suck." Alec retrieved the arrow from the tree and chuckled. "I started practicing with the bow when I was 10. It took me three years to master. I only started hitting the target after a year of lessons."

Kit scowled, tossing the bow to the ground. "How is that supposed to make me feel any better?"

Alec picked up his bow to examine it. He didn't really appreciate the fact that Kit just tossed it to the ground like a piece of garbage but he understood that the boy was upset with his slow progress. "Listen. You're not going to get it right away. The bow is a tough weapon to master. Maybe you're better off picking a different weapon to train with?"

This had crossed Kit's mind more than once since he and Alec started lessons. But he wanted this so badly that it was all he had his mind set on. "No. I really want this. You won't let me use a gun and I can't be using a crowbar to defend myself if I ever need to defend myself. With the bow, that way it's both long and short range. Long for using the bow and short for just using the arrow to stab."

Alec beamed with pride. "That's actually really smart thinking, buddy. It's what I do sometimes during an emergency. Most arrows are pretty sturdy and can withstand a beating so using them for hand to hand combat really helps when you don't have a proper close combat weapon."

Kit blushed with embarrassment from being praised. "Oh. Thanks. I didn't think it was a big deal or anything."

"It is a big deal. You're catching on fast. I'm proud of you," Alec told him while ruffling the boy's hair. "Now go inside and get washed up. Magnus is almost finished skinning the rabbits. You can help cook them if you want."

After Kit disappeared inside the cabin, Alec went around to the side where Magnus was carefully skinning three small rabbits with his knife. The critters were hung up on a line, their insides now outside. The furs were strewn out on a separate line to dry so they could be used to make some mittens or used for other purposes.

"I see Kit still hasn't hit the target yet," Magnus said as he peeled the skin of the final rabbit and hung it up on the line.

"Just be thankful were not being attacked by mannequins instead of zombies." Dipping his hands in the clean water bucket, Alec carefully washed the dirt and grime from his fingers. "He'll improve over time. Practice does make perfect after all."

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Whatever you say, big guy. Start that fire for me, would you? The stove in there doesn't cook. Only boil. I'd love to make a rabbit stew but we don't have any broth."

Alec stomach rumbled at the thought of a piping hot bowl of stew. "If you had told me earlier I would've went into town to see if they had anything there."

"Any what in town?" Kit suddenly appeared beside them, Madzie by his side. "Are we going into town or something?"

"No one's going into town. Magnus was just saying how he wanted to make a stew but there's no broth. Plus whatever vegetables we packed are all gone," Alec explained to him. "Now did you both wash up for dinner?"

Kit nodded but Madzie was too busy staring at the peeled rabbits on the line. She looked horrified at the naked animals, their muscles and tendons on display right before her eyes. "We're not eating that are we? Where's their fur?"

"Madzie...." Alec knelt down to her height. "We can't eat the fur. You know that. Plus we need whatever food we can find. We can't be picky about what we eat these days."

Madzie seemed to differ. "I know we can't be picky. But why did we have to hurt the tiny ones? They were babies."

When she began to tear up, Alec wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug. "Don't cry, button. Some rabbits are just small. These ones weren't babies. I can promise you that."

Madzie's tiny body shook with sobs. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

She had never heard that phrase before. When she pulled away, she had this horrified look on her face. "I don't want you to die!"

"It's just a phrase, Mads. You know. Like 'get lost'? People aren't actually telling you to go get lost somewhere. They just want you to go away," Kit had to explain to her.

Madzie eventually shrugged and went back to running her fingers through her doll's hair, visibly trying her best to ignore Magnus as he finished off skinning the rabbit.

"Alright. They should be good to go. Kit, why don't you come on over and I'll show you how to cook meat over an open fire." Magnus ushered Kit to come closer. "I think everyone should know how to do this. It's key to survival."

"You think everything is key to survival...." Kit grumbled, sitting down beside the fire. He stuck a sharp stick through one rabbit's head and nearly gagged as the other end of the stick came out on the opposite side.

"Come on. I'm sure you've seen worse than this in your lifetime," Magnus remarked. He impaled the second rabbit and fixed it directly over the fire. "You're going to see worse than this. You both are. Now I don't mean to scare you-"

"Which you are. At least you're scaring Madzie," said Kit. "And you're right. I'm probably going to see worse. But that doesn't mean I can't be grossed out by the small stuff. Like impaling Bugs Bunny here between the eyes and through his ass-"

"Don't swear!" Madzie warned him.

Kit quietly apologized and went back to minding the cooking meat over the fire.

The rabbits were cooked in twenty minutes, served on plastic happy birthday plates that Alec found at the convenience store in town. The forks that they used were also birthday themed so to the kids it felt like they were at a party that served rabbit instead of cake.

"This is really good. I mean it's no Michelin star meal but it's one of the best I've had in a long time," Magnus said between chews.

Alec shook his head. "I don't know. It could've used a little seasoning. Like salt or something."

"I think it tastes like crap but I'm just a kid and my opinion doesn't really matter," Kit grumbled after a bite.

Madzie had hers gone before the boys even swallowed their second bite. "I liked it! But I just wish there was more. I'm still hungry...."

Feeling guilty, Alec passed his plate over to Madzie. "You can have mine, button. I wasn't really hungry anyway."

A stomach growl told the group otherwise. "Alec. You need to eat something. This might be the only catch we get for the next little while," said Magnus. "Let me share mine with you. That way you're not entirely starving by later on."

This wasn't ideal but Alec obliged regardless. He felt bad for eating Magnus' share but his empty stomach didn't seem to be protesting as he ate his share of rabbit. The grumbling stopped and he didn't feel as hungry as he was before.

After dinner the kids went inside to play while Alec and Magnus put out the fire and cleaned their plastic plates. There was no point in throwing them out and wasting more for the next meal; it made more sense to just clean them off and reuse them again for the next time they ate.

"I know you haven't said anything about this in a while," Magnus began, "and I didn't want to bring it up in case it upset you. So I didn't."

Alec looked up at him from the bucket of water. "About what?"

Magnus ran a hand through his hair. "About Jace. And Clary. Simon too."

At the mention of his brother, Alec froze in place. "It wouldn't have upset me. I still think about them everyday, even if I don't say anything."

"I know. So do I. I'm starting to think that I miss Simon. Can you believe that?"

Alec chuckled as Magnus shook his head in disbelief. "I think I miss him too. We could really use one of his clever inventions right about now."

Out of their entire group, Simon had been the most valuable. Though neither of them really told him at the time, Simon truly was appreciated, even if in the end before they were separated he never felt that way. If Alec had a second chance to make things right, he'd tell Simon that he was appreciated and loved and that Isabelle was very proud of everything he's done for the group.

"Knowing your brother, he's kept them safe all this time." Magnus placed a hand on Alec's shoulder, a gentle smile on his face. "He's learned from the best, after all."

Alec took Magnus' hand and kissed it. "Thank you. And I hope you're right."

They finished cleaning the rest of the dishes and putting out the fire. Magnus was just about to chop some firewood for the stove in the cabin when a twig snapped loudly somewhere in the woods. He froze instantly, his muscles ready to react if need be.

"Alec," he hissed. "There's something out in the woods."

Another twig snapped, causing Alec to pick up his bow and position an arrow on the string. "Can you see anything?"

Magnus scanned the tree line. "No. Nothing. It could just be a deer or some kind of animal but I don't want to take any chances."

"Neither do I," Alec agreed. He kept his bow raised as he looked past the trees and into the forest. "You stay here and keep an eye out. I'll go inside and gather the kids-"

"Hello there friends!"

Both Magnus and Alec raised their weapons at the sound of the voice, an axe in Magnus' hand while Alec raised his bow. The voice belonged to a young man around their age with curly blonde hair. He wore a pair of dirty jeans and a green parka, sporting camping gear on his back. As he neared them, Alec pointed his bow at him.

"That's close enough," Alec told him in a dangerously low voice. "Who the hell are you?"

The man raised his hands. "I mean you no harm. I was just passing through and happened to look to my right and saw you guys chatting. I thought maybe I could ask for directions."

Magnus snorted. "Ask us for directions? Are you kidding us right now?"

The man smiled. "No! I'm serious. I'm looking for a place. Perhaps you've heard of it?"

Alec looked the man over from head to toe. "You still haven't answered my question. Answer mine and we'll answer yours."

The stranger nodded. "Fair enough. My name is Underhill. I'm originally from New Jersey but I guess now I'm not really from anywhere. Can I ask you what your names are?"

Alec glanced at Magnus, who mouthed "Underhill?" with an incredulous look on his face. "Underhill. I'm Alec. This is my boyfriend Magnus. We're from New York."

Underhill's eyebrows shot up. "You're a long way from home. What brings you to Atlanta?"

Alec was about to retort when Magnus spoke up instead. "The scenery. New York just wasn't what we were looking for so we both made the trek out here. It hasn't disappointed us so far."

Underhill glanced at them both. "Right. I don't really believe you but that's fine. I understand if you don't want to tell the truth. You just met me. I'd probably react the same way."

Without hesitating, Magnus asked "So what do you want from us? You wouldn't have stopped if you didn't have anything to say to us."

Underhill bowed his head. "Right. Sorry. I do have a bit of information to pass along that you might want to hear. Can I come in for a few minutes? I've been walking a long time and I'm exhausted."

Both Magnus and Alec glanced at each other. It was obvious that the kid's safety crossed their mind and letting this stranger into their home wasn't ideal. But he could actually have valuable intel that might actually help them.

"Fine. But only for a few minutes. Give us the info you claim to have and be on your way again. Got it?" Alec warned in a low voice.

"I hear you loud and clear. I won't keep you guys long. Besides," Underhill approached Alec, his voice dropping to a whisper. "You'll want to hear what I have to say. It might even save your life."


	7. The First Wave

Kit was drawing with Madzie when the cabin door opened up and his guardians stepped inside with a strange man. Instinctively, he edged closer to his sister while watching the man carefully as he moved from the doorway to the small couch in the middle of the room.

"Oh! Hello there," the man said to the kids. "I'm Underhill. What are your names?"

Kit scowled. "More importantly, who the hell are you?"

"Kit," Alec warned. "This man here says he has important info to tell us. We're all here to listen to what he has to say. Got it?"

Again, Kit scowled. "Got it. But he stays over there away from Madzie."

Underhill raised his hands and backed away from the kids. "You're the boss, little man."

Magnus put some tea on the stove while Underhill talked about his travels across the country for the past 6 years. He told them he was originally from the west coast and since the apocalypse started, travelled all across the country and visited various tourist locations.

"I stayed for three nights and three days at the Grand Canyon," he told them excitedly. He took a sip of tea and sighed at the memory. "It was beautiful. You could see the stars for miles away. Plus there wasn't a soul around so you hear the coyotes and crickets and everything nature had to offer."

"The Grand Canyon? Wasn't it cold at night?" Magnus asked, pouring Underhill, Alec and himself a cup of tea.

"I had my tent and a little fire going so it wasn't too bad," Underhill replied. He took another quick sip of tea while looking over at the kids. "Are they yours? Adopted?"

Alec shook his head. "No. It's a long story but we're their guardians more or less. But they aren't our kids."

"Ah," Underhill nodded. "I understand. I just figured that a beautiful couple such as yourselves would have beautiful children."

Kit's voice spoke up from the back of the room. "Are you going to give us the info or not?"

Magnus was about to retort when Underhill laughed. "Geez, I almost forgot! Yes. So the info you'll most definitely need is this: there's a massive horde of Forsaken headed this way so you might want to evacuate soon."

The room suddenly went quiet. Madzie had even stopped coloring to look at everyone else, probably wondering why it had gotten quiet. So to break the silence, she began to hum a song and click her crayons together.

"When you say massive horde," Magnus whispered, "how massive are you talking?"

Underhill did a mental count on his head. "I'd say about 150 or more. Can't be certain but it's a pretty big group. The most I've ever seen anyway."

Alec picked up the empty mugs and set them on the sink. "And you said they're headed in this direction?" Underhill nodded in response. "Alright. Then we need to move now-kids. Pack up your stuff. We're leaving the cabin as as soon we're good to go."

Madzie put down her crayons to cross her arms over her chest. "I don't want to go! I want to stay here!"

Alec knelt down beside her. "I know sweetie. But it's not safe here anymore. But I can promise you we'll find an even better place to live, okay? Maybe even a castle!"

Kit shot him a look that read "don't make promises that you can't keep". "Yeah. Alec's probably right. This cabin is pretty crappy anyway. Don't you want your own room where you don't have to share a bed with me?"

Madzie thought about it for a moment. "Fine. But if we find a pretty house I want my own room to sleep and play with my toys in."

Pleased with the outcome, Alec kissed her on the cheek. "That's a good girl. Now pack up your stuff. We'll leave as soon as everyone is ready."

Because they didn't have much to pack to begin with, the cabin was soon in their proverbial rearview mirror. Underhill said a quick goodbye and wished them all the best before parting ways.

"Who knows. Maybe we'll see each other again?" He said in a cheery voice.

"Yeah. Who knows. Good luck out there. Say hi to the biggest ball of yarn for me," said Alec, jokingly. "We owe you for giving us that intel back there-"

"Don't worry about it. We humans have to watch each other's backs if we want to survive out here. Consider it a gesture of goodwill."

It had been an hour since they went their separate ways. The horde that Underhill had mentioned merely loomed in the back of the small group's mind but never actually manifested itself in front of their eyes. Whether or not the zombies were far behind them, it was unclear. They just had to keep on moving.

"Do you think Underhill was telling the truth about the horde?" Magnus whispered when the kids wandered off a few feet ahead of them.

"I don't know what to think anymore, Magnus. He might've been but then if he wasn't and we had stayed, we would've risked the lives of the kids as well as our own."

Madzie laughed a few feet ahead of them when Kit made a frog sound and tried to do it herself, but couldn't due to her laughing so much. Blue Bell barked excitedly at the sound of her laughter and even tried to jump on her at one point to try and lick Madzie's face.

"You made the right choice regardless. Besides....it's better to keep moving than staying in one place for very long anyway," Magnus took Alec's hand and held it as they walked the dirt road together.

Alec squeezed the hand that held his. "So why did we stay at the farm for as long as we did?"

Shrugging, Magnus replied in a soft tone, "We had a good thing going at the farm. We knew we were safe and we had preparations in case something were to happen. Now we don't and everything just feels chaotic again. Like it did before."

Life at the farm seemed like eons ago when in reality it had only been a few days. Alec had done some thinking about the situation; Lorenzo was dead (but he never told the kids this and Magnus had his suspicions) so wouldn't the farm actually be safe for them again? He'd been thinking about this for days now and it seemed like their best option for the current predicament they were in. It had all the necessities; food, water, the animals (if they were still there) and a roof over their heads.

"You have that look in your eye again," said Magnus. "You know. The one you get when you're thinking really hard about something?"

Alec chuckled. "It's nothing. I was just thinking maybe we could go back to the farm. Shouldn't it be safe there now?"

Magnus looked up at him through a ray of sunshine. "I have no idea. But whatever you decide to do, I'll be right there beside you. Always."

A gag interrupted their private conversation. Kit was poking at a pile of dirt with his shoe while screwing his face in disgust. "Are you two going to kiss again? You're always kissing. It's gross."

"And you're always complaining," Magnus retorted. "It's irritating. Keep walking, sunshine. Or we might just leave you behind for the horde to munch on. They love pipsqueaks."

Kit shot him a look. "I'm not a pipsqueak!" he shouted, wincing when his voice noticeably cracked. "Ah shit. Wish my voice would decide whether or not I'm a boy or a man."

Alec smiled, draping an arm over the teen's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Remember I said before that it'll settle soon enough? It's not forever."

Kit rolled his eyes. "I remember...."

They walked for another twenty minutes before stopping at a stream to refill their water bottles. Alec gulped down half his bottle before refilling it again. As he did so, he took the time to glance around at his surroundings to see if he could get some idea as to where they were. Trees, more trees, and a clear blue sky above them. There wasn't much to go on when everything looked the same.

"I wish we had a map or something. I hate going in misguided directions-not that you're misguiding us or anything. I just like knowing where I am," Magnus said once his water bottle was filled.

"Don't we all...." Alec muttered. "I don't remember coming this way when we left the farm."

Madzie tugged on his sleeve. "We followed the railroad tracks!"

Alec smiled. She had "wailwoad twacks" which was always cute when she mispronounced things. "We did, didn't we? Do you think you can find them again for us, little detective?"

Madzie giggled as Alec began to tickle her. "I'm not a detective! But I know we're not going the right way."

Kit poked her gently. "Spoken like a true sleuth. Even these two geniuses can see that we're lost."

"Oh?" Irritated, Magnus flicked Kit on the ear. "If you're so smart, lead the way to salvation, Great One. Clearly you know more than we do."

Kit clenched his jaw but didn't respond.

Magnus chuckled. "I didn't think so. Just have a little faith in us, kid. We won't lead you astray. Alright?"

This was enough for Kit to nod and adjust the backpack over his shoulders. He trusted Alec and Magnus; they did save him and his sister after all as well as fed them and clothed them like actual parents would do. Kit had almost forgotten what it was like to even have parents....

"Okay. We all set to go again? Madzie is your bottle filled up?" Alec knelt down and fixed her backpack. "There you go. Looks like we're good to go. We need to get a far enough distance from the horde and standing around isn't going to do us any good."

"How will you know we're far enough from the horde?" Kit asked.

Magnus took the liberty of answering this one. "When we're all still alive. That's how we'll know."

They walked some more. By this point Madzie had fallen to the ground in exhaustion so Magnus picked her up in his arms and carried her. She even fell asleep in his arms, cheek resting on his shoulder and snoring softly.

"She must be exhausted," Magnus whispered, being careful not to wake her up.

"We all are but we can't carry each other. At least not in the physical sense," Alec whispered back. "Kit here is too tall for me to carry-"

"And I'm not carrying you. So don't ask," mumbled Kit. "Can we stop and rest soon? I think I'm starting to get blisters on my feet."

"Blisters?" Alec quickly glanced down at the boy's feet. "Sit down. I'll take a look."

Kit snorted. "I'm not letting you look at my feet let alone touch them. You could be one of those foot freaks."

This made Magnus laugh out loud. "Oh yeah that's Alec all right. He loves feet. Don't even get him started on toes-"

"I don't like feet!" Alec exclaimed. "Just sit down and let me see if you have any blisters or not. I have a cream that you can put on yourself if you do."

Kit did indeed have blisters. His shoes must've been rubbing up against his skin while they were walking and caused them to form. Every time Alec would turn his foot to get a better look at them, Kit would flinch in pain.

"Yup. Those are blisters alright. Why didn't you tell me that you were hurting earlier? Also, your shoes are a size too small. You failed to mention that too."

Kit shrugged. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

Alec shook his head while he took out the cream from his backpack. "Yeah well....look what happened. You gave yourself sores. Put this on and put a band-aid on over it. They might pop by themselves over time. If not we'll have to pop them ourselves."

"Ew!" Madzie said once she saw the sores on her brother's feet. "That's yucky, Kit! Put your shoes back on!"

Adjusting her on his shoulder, Magnus smirked. "Look who's awake! Did your brother's smelly feet wake you up?"

She giggled and hugged his neck. "No. But I do smell something bad. Did someone break open an egg?"

The group sniffed the air. A smell that was even worse than rotten eggs wafted through the air around them. It was like something died and was rotting right in front of them but there wasn't anything near them. No animal corpse. Nothing. Just the smell of something absolutely acrid.

"Fuck. What is that?" Magnus said through a gag.

"I swear to god it's not me," Kit covered his nose with his shirt. "My eyes are literally burning out of my head right now. Is something dead around us?"

There was only one thing that could've made this powerful stench and Alec knew just what it was. "Forsaken. We're close to the horde."

"How is that possible? We had plenty of headway." Magnus glanced frantically around them, instinctively clutching Madzie closer to him. "Unless they were riding bicycles there's no way they could've caught up to us."

Kit turned to look at Alec. "What about the smart ones? I heard you mention them to Magnus before. Is it possible that these are the ones you came across a while ago?"

Before Alec could answer, a low but all too familiar growl reached them from within the forest. It grew louder with each second. Alec knew they had to run but his body and mind were too in shock to even move.

"Alexander. We need to move. Now." Alec wouldn't move, so Magnus had to shake him to his senses again. "Alec! Come on. We have to get out of here."

Alec snapped back to attention. "Right. Sorry. We got to move. Come on, kids. Time to move fast." He looked down at Kit. "Can you run if we have to?"

Kit quickly slipped his shoes back on as if to prove his point. "Do I have any other choice?"

He didn't, and they were soon racing through the woods with the wind at their backs. Growls broke out from somewhere behind them but the group didn't dare look over their shoulders to see; though Alec had a sneaking suspicion that these Forsaken weren't the normal slow ones that everyone seemed to have gotten used to over the years. These were faster, stronger and knew what they were doing.

"Keep running! And don't look back!" Magnus called out from the front of the group. Madzie bounced in his arms as he ran and Alec was close enough to see the tears streaming down her little cheeks in fright.

The trees eventually dispersed to reveal a raging river. The roar of it alone was loud enough to drown out the sound of the undead behind them but it wasn't enough to keep them from coming closer.

"How the fuck are we supposed to get across?!" Kit yelled over the roar of the water below.

Alec tried to focus on everything around him but it was hard to even hear his own thoughts from the crashing of the river, Kit cursing and Madzie's heavy sobs-but then he saw it. "There! We'll use that log as a bridge!"

As convenient as it was, a large fallen over tree stretched across from one side of the river to the other, creating a makeshift bridge. It wasn't exactly safe but it was their only way of getting to the other side.

Magnus crossed first. He was careful where he walked because there were odd branches sticking out here and there. Once across, he yelled, "It's stable! Just be careful of the branches!"

Alec turned to look at Kit. "You go. I'll stay here and cover you until you're across."

"What?! No! You'll get yourself killed!" Very unlike himself, Kit gripped Alec's arm and tugged on it. "Cross with me. The log should be strong enough-"

"You're wasting time! Just go!" Alec yelled.

Tears that Alec had never seen before ran down Kit's face. He stepped up on he log and he was just beginning to cross when a dozen or so Forsaken made themselves visible from the tree line.

The bow Alec had been gripping so tightly in his hands raised with an arrow notched back in it. It released and an arrow whizzed out, getting a zombie right between the eyes. It collapsed immediately to the ground.

He was about to shoot another arrow when a cry grabbed his attention. He turned just in time to see Kit stumble halfway across the log and fall into the rushing waters beneath him. His head was just barely visible above the water as Alec watched in utter horror when he was swept away down the river.

"KIT!" Alec yelled. His body reacted out of pure instinct; he dove into the icy cold water after the boy, who was much too far ahead to be reached but that didn't stop him from jumping in anyway. He heard Magnus scream in protest but anything after that fell on deaf ears as the only sound he heard was the angry roar of the river.

Kit was just barely visible ten feet ahead of him. Try as he may, Alec pumped his arms and tried to swim to him. Exhaustion was quick to take over so he just allowed himself to go with the flow-

"Ungh!" He grunted just as something sharp and jagged hit him on the forehead. His vision was quickly fading, slowly sinking under the dark depths of the water. He pictured Magnus with a terrified look on his face and wanted to apologize so badly....

And that was the last thing he remembered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this were a season of the Walking Dead this is how I would want the season to end. It's PERFECT


	8. Washed Up

**Alec's POV**

My head was throbbing. It was the pain that woke me up from whatever kind of slumber I fell into and it wasn't the good kind where you woke up feeling refreshed and restored.

Because my eyes were so heavy with pain, it took a few minutes for them to fully open up. The sky above was still blue as it had been earlier. The only difference was that there were crows circling overhead like vultures would circle a corpse-

Corpse.

Kit.

I shot up a little too quickly, causing my head to throb even more. The searing pain only prompted me to reach up to see where the source of the pain was coming from. After feeling around for a minute, my hand finally felt something dried and crusty on my forehead. Dried blood. Something must've hit me during the ride down the river and knocked me out cold.

Kit. Shit, I hope he was okay. If I washed up here (wherever here was) then there was a good chance that he did too. The little shore that I washed up onto was covered in mostly pebbles and broken branches mixed with debris from God knows what but there was no sign of Kit anywhere. 

"Kit!" I called out. Water found its way up my throat and I coughed it out. It was a miracle that I didn't drown. I just hope that Kit didn't meet that fate....

There was practically no life left in my legs when I tried to move them. They were so cold to the point where even my toes were numb, so I had to rub some of the life back into them before attempting to stand up and walk, which was a task all in its own because my hands were just as cold.

Once I felt a slight tingling in my feet and legs, that's when I tried standing up. There was a long branch beside me that was just right for my height so I used that as a cane for support. It hurt to move but I had to if I wanted to find any sign of Kit anywhere.

"Kit!" I called out again. No response. Maybe he was already up and out of the water? Surely if he had seen me washed up along the riverbank too then he would've stopped and helped me.

I was about to call out again when I finally saw him. Floating against a bunch of large rocks, I rushed down to the riverside to try and haul him out of the water. If those rocks hadn't been there then he definitely would've floated even further down the river.

"Oh shit. Come on, Kit." My entire body protested as I dragged Kit out of the icy water and onto solid ground. He wasn't breathing so CPR was the only option. "Come on. Come on. Breathe!"

After several breaths into his mouth and doing compressions, he finally gasped and coughed up the water in his lungs. He coughed some more, his eyes frantically looking around in shock.

"What the-what happened?!" He wheezed.

"Relax. It's okay. We're both out of the water now. You're safe."

He sat up, hugging his knees for warmth. "You....jumped in after me? Why?"

I rolled my eyes. "What was I supposed to do? Wave and watch you get sucked into the water? Of course I jumped in after you. I care about you, Kit. You're like a little brother to me."

He gave a small smile before hugging his knees even tighter. "Are we going to stay out here all day or are we going to find someplace warm for a bit?"

He had a good point. We couldn't stay out here, especially not in our waterlogged clothes. "You're right. We need to find a place to make a fire and dry ourselves off. Can you walk?"

Kit shifted his weight around. "I think so. My legs are a little numb but moving them around might bring the circulation back in them."

I nodded. "Okay. But promise me you'll let me know if you're in any pain?"

He said nothing, only nodding in agreement. I knew he wasn't telling the truth but I let him think I believed him anyway. He didn't like anyone knowing how he truly felt which was a lot like me.

We didn't have to walk far before we came across an oddly placed fancy house. It didn't feel right for it to be out in the middle of nowhere so I just figured it was one of those really nice cabins that people with a lot of money built in the woods for some privacy. My family used to own one back in the day. I never thought of us as "rich" exactly but we did have money. Sadly money never had any value these days. It was just something that kept the fire going.

"Wow. This place is huge," Kit pointed out. "I bet it has like eight bedrooms and four bathrooms."

"However many rooms it has doesn't matter. There's a chimney so therefore there's a fireplace. We can dry off and warm up in there." I stepped up onto the porch and peered inside. "I can't tell if there's anything or anyone in there. What about you?"

Kit looked in through a window. "Nope. Too dirty. Should we knock? You know. It's the polite thing to do."

Again, I rolled my eyes at him. He was so much like Jace sometimes that it was uncanny in a lot of ways. "I'll knock but not for the reasons you're thinking off. Grab that hammer. We might need it."

He picked up a hammer that was lying around on the swing. We both lost our backpacks in the river so everything that we had, including food, water, even our weapons, were long gone. "Okay. I'm ready."

I lift a hand and knocked four times. What was I expecting? Someone to greet us with open arms? A friendly face asking us if we were lost? My body told me to run but my mind kept me in place just until we knew what was inside.

"I don't think anyone's home," whispered Kit.

"Doesn't seem like it-oh. It's unlocked." I slowly opened the front door. "Who leaves their doors unlocked?"

"Who needs a big ass cabin in the middle of the woods?" Kit retorted. He stepped inside before I could scope out the first floor and whistled. "Whoa. The people who lived here must've been swimming in money. Hello!"

I winced when his annoying pubescent voice echoed throughout the home. "Can you be quiet? There could be Forsaken in here...."

He snorted. "If there were, they would've came running as soon as you knocked. Relax. We're good."

I still did a floor to floor check just to be sure while Kit worked on the fire. The first floor was clear, as was the second, so that managed to put my mind at ease somewhat. I even managed to find some clean clothes during my search which was very lucky because I was starting to shiver again.

"Hey. Check out what I found," I said as I re-entered the living room with some clothes. "These should be your size. At least they're dry anyway."

Kit poked at the fire with a metal poker. "Cool. Thanks. I need to get out of these clothes before I permanently become a snowman."

I chuckled as I stripped down. Kit didn't seem to mind too much. He knew when to look away. But just when I picked up a dry shirt to put it on, he spoke up again.

"Hey Alec? Can I ask you a question?"

I turned towards the sound of Kit's voice. "Sure. Ask away."

He was quiet for a moment. "That scar on your shoulder. I saw it the other day when you were washing up by the brook. Did you get shot or something? What happened?"

My hand unconsciously went up to my shoulder where the scar branded my skin just below the collarbone. "Magnus never told you the story?"

Kit shook his head. "No. I never asked him about it. I wanted to hear it from you."

I sighed, pulling on the shirt I'd found. It was a comfy black sweater that oddly enough was just my size as it was adjusted over my upper body. "I got shot trying to save Max. We were all captured by this horrible group that kept us hostage. So we one night we planned an escape. A gun went off and I grabbed Max before he could get hurt. Ended up with a slug in my shoulder."

Kit eyed the spot where the scar was. "There were more of you? Like who?"

Thinking about the rest of my family made my heart ache but I answered anyway. "Our group wasn't very big. But it was me, Magnus, my little sister Isabelle, my little brothers Jace and Max along with Jace and Isabelle's lovers Clary and Simon. That was when all of us were together."

He poked at the fire again to try and bring it back to life. "Max is dead. But what about everyone else?"

"Isabelle's passed. I don't know about everyone else. We got separated after the church got burned down."

"....what church?"

I sighed wearily. "That's another story for another time. Throw in another log for the fire. You're killing it, mindlessly poking at it like that."

We threw in another log which immediately caught. The clothes we had taken off were drying next to the fireplace, but I doubted we'd be changing back into them again. The stuff we wore now was much more comfy and cozy compared to our soaking wet attire.

"My parents were shot by a group of humans ."

Kit's sudden confession made me sit up straighter on the couch. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."

He continued. "I was 8 at the time. We were crossing this bridge when we were ambushed on both sides. They wanted our supplies and threatened to kill us so my dad tried to negotiate. It failed obviously and he was killed first. My mom tried to run with me but got shot from behind. She landed on top of me so I pretended that bullet went through the both of us and killed us."

Jesus. I wasn't going to ask why he was telling me this but I assumed it was because he trusted me with this information. "Kit, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I really am."

Kit wiped a hand over his face to get rid of his tears. "Whatever. It's done and over with now. Can't keep thinking of the past when the present is constantly happening."

I offered him a small smile and pat his knee. "You're a good kid. Smart too. You know what you're doing....most of the time."

He chuckled at this. "I'm just a dumb teenager. I can barely take care of myself let alone both me and Madzie."

"Well....I think you're doing a pretty damn good job of it. Just look at me and Magnus. We've never had kids before-I mean I've had Max in the past but that's completely different. You're not blood related to me. I didn't have any obligation to take you guys in but I did it anyway."

"Because you felt bad for us?"

"No." I placed a hand on his back. "I did it because it was the right thing to do. It's not in my nature to leave anyone who needs help unchecked like that. Besides....you're starting to grow on me."

He flicked my hand away as I tried to teasingly pinch his cheeks. "Stop. I'm thankful you took us in and all but can we leave the cheek pinching for Madzie? I'm 14. I'm too old for that shit."

We both laughed, watching the fire crackle and spit. It was nice to just be able to sit down and relax. Being so on edge the last few days really took the good out of both of us, especially with our experience in the river together draining us even more so. With the warm fire in front of us, it was easy to lose sight of reality and of why we were really here in the first place.

"Do you think Magnus and Mads are worried about us?" Kit asked. He had just draped a quilt over his shoulders and was still shivering from the cold.

"I don't doubt that for a second. Madzie must be worried sick about you."

He smiles at this. "Magnus must be worried sick about you too."

There was a moment where he yawned so I adjusted the quilt over his shoulders. "Get some sleep. We'll stay here overnight and get provisions in the morning."

He apparently had no qualms with this. Not long after the blanket was tucked under his chin, he was sound asleep. Still shivering but asleep nonetheless.

He slept the entire time as I boarded up the door and windows. The second floor wasn't a problem because the only way to get to it was if you came in through the front door and went upstairs. By the time I finished with that I had spent my last drop of energy. Collapsing to the couch across from Kit, I threw a blanket I had found over my body and sighed heavily.

"I'm okay Magnus," I whispered to myself. "I'll find my way back to you. I promise."


	9. Explaining Waffles To A Five Year Old

**Magnus' POV**

You know for a 5 year old, Madzie really knew how to cry. I wasn't overly familiar or even really fond of kids but something about her just sucked me in. Maybe it was her dimply little smile or her charming kid voice. All I know is that she had me wrapped around her tiny finger. But at the moment, I just wanted some peace and quiet.

"Sweet pea. Please. I need you to stop crying. We don't know if those zombies are all gone and your crying is just bringing more attention to us," I softly whispered in her ear. She'd been attached to my shoulder ever since we both watched Kit and Alec get swept away by the river.

She gripped my neck tighter in response. "I want my brother! Bring him back!"

I had to finally set her down in order to calm her breathing. Her hyperventilating could be felt even through our several layers of clothes. "Hey. Listen to me. I'm going to find Kit. We both are-Blue Bell too!"

Blue plopped herself beside Madzie and wagged her tail. She even gave Madzie a wet doggy kiss with her nose in an attempt to cheer her up.

Madzie wiped her tears. "How can Blue Bell help? She's a dog."

I smiled at this. "Well....I'll tell you how she can help. Dogs have an amazing sense of smell. They can smell things that we humans can't." I took out one of Kit's shirts out of my bag and held it to Blue's nose. "She can use Kit's scent and track him using her nose. If he's been around here, she'll pick up his smell and find him like that."

Madzie stroked Blue's fur with a tiny hand. "Find my brother, Blue. Please?"

Blue Bell sniffed Kit's shirt and quickly darted off. She knew what to do; she'd been tracking with Alec many times and was extremely good at it even if she wasn't part bloodhound. My guess was that she was part border collie and part German Shepard, so that would explain why she was so multi-talented.

She didn't seem to be picking up anything. We trailed behind her for an hour but she just kept stopping to smell trees and even peed on one of them at some point. Any response to a possible Kit trail was out of the question.

"How will we know when Blue finds Kit's scent?" Madzie asked.

"Um....she'll bark maybe. Or lie down where Kit might've walked. But we'll know. Trust me."

As luck may have it, it started to rain. Even someone with no experience with tracking knows that all scents are ruined when it rains and that's exactly what happened in our case. If Blue did find a scent (which it seemed like she did for a moment), she definitely lost it by now. It was obvious by her loud whines that she lost the trail.

"Why is Blue crying?" Madzie stroked the dog's wet fur, ignoring the rain that pelted down on her.

"She must've lost the scent when it started to rain. Come on, pumpkin. We need to get out of this weather for a while and warm up." I scooped her up into my arms again, pulling her hood up over her head. "There you go. Now you won't get any rain on your cute face."

We found an old fishing shack that stood about thirty feet away from the river. There was nothing inside so I ushered Madzie in and shut the door behind us. The floor was kind of wet and old so I laid out a deerskin that I'd skinned a few days ago along the floor for her to lay down on.

"Okay. Alright. We have a roof over our heads. We're still soaking wet and the fire situation is a bit of a bust...." I looked around for something to wrap Madzie up in but there was nothing to be seen. "Are you cold? Do you need another blanket over you?"

A visible shudder ran through her. "I'm-I'm okay. I'm not cold."

I snorted. "Don't lie, sweet pea. I can tell you're freezing cold." Shrugging off my coat, I draped it around her tiny shoulders. "Now you stay here with Blue while I try and find a way for us to build a fire. Blue? Stay."

Blue hung her head but happily edged closer to Madzie for a snuggle. Any chances of getting a cuddle, that dog was going to take it.

There really wasn't a place to put a fire, inside or out, but I had to try anyway. Madzie was freezing and to be honest so was I. Even setting up a small fire inside the shack would rack up the carbon dioxide and we'd all suffocate to death. At least we wouldn't be cold anymore, I suppose.

"You doing okay in there Madzie?" I called out from behind the shack.

A little voice answered "I'm a little cold but I'm okay! You?"

"I'm doing fantastic. Soaking wet but just fantastic. I'll be back inside in a few. Just....looking for a way to safely make a fire without killing us both...."

Oh my god, I was awful with kids. Alec had it much easier because he grew up with three younger siblings but me? I was an only child. Not to mention I wasn't exposed to kids very much growing up. Even as an adult the exposure was pretty much at a zero. Never had time for them. Funny how the apocalypse really tests you in more ways than one.

"Hey Magnus?" Madzie called out. "Why don't you just leave the door open and build the fire outside it or something?"

I trudged back to the front of the shack and looked down on her tiny form in the doorway. "Not a bad idea. But what if the wind changes direction and blows the smoke inside with us?"

She blinked. "The wind changes?"

Sighing, I nodded in defeat. "Fine. I guess that's our only and best option right now. You didn't want to make the fire, did you?"

Madzie shook her head. "Kit says I'm not allowed to start a fire by myself. Not without his sup...super...."

"....supervision?"

"Yeah. And Kit's not here so...."

Lovely. So the kid completely ignores the fact that I'm a grown man and can watch her as she makes the fire. Besides. It'd be quicker if I did it anyway. "Okey dokey then. I'll get that fire going. You just....hang in there. Holler if you see anything that looks dangerous."

Within a matter of minutes, we had a nice fire going just outside the fishing shack. Yes, I knew the risks of the entire place catching and burning down but it was still raining and the fire was quickly dying faster than I could put wood into it to keep it going.

"That's not a very good fire," Madzie commented through chattering teeth.

"Yeah. I know. It'd be much bigger if it wasn't raining so hard. But at least it's a bit warmer now right?" I wrapped an arm around her in attempt to warm her up even more. "You're a lucky girl. Blue Bell doesn't just give snuggles to anyone. She's very picky."

Madzie giggled. "I love Blue. She's a nice puppy."

I smiled down at the two of them cuddling together. "She's a good girl, isn't she? Alec and I were lucky to find her when we did. She was almost starving."

"She was?!" Madzie gasped. "That's bad! You fed her though. She's nice and fat now."

"I wouldn't call her fat," I chuckled. Just the look on Blue's face alone told me that she was offended by being called fat. "She's....muscular. That's from all the runs in the woods she went on with Alec over the last year."

Blue gave me a doggy smile at the compliment and cuddled in closer to my chest. Her tongue reached out to kiss my chin but I just gently moved her snout away with a hand.

"Can you tell me a story?" Madzie asked after several minutes of silence.

"A story? What kind of story?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. A nice one. One with a happy ending."

Oh boy. I didn't know any stories with a happy ending. Granted, I do read but most of the books I've read in the past are long forgotten. Plus most of my experiences in the last six years don't exactly have happy endings. "Alright then. I've got one for you. It's about a young man who's going through some hard times."

She cuddles in and gets comfortable by my side. "Does he have a name?"

"Let's call him Joe for now. Joe is living alone in this house before he decides to move and find another place. When he does find this new place, he lays eyes on the most beautiful man he's ever seen in his life."

Madzie gasped. "Who's the man?!"

I laugh at her enthusiasm. "The man was named Adonis. He was a gift from the gods themselves during the hard times. Joe couldn't believe what he was seeing. Every time he laid eyes on Adonis, his heart would skip a hundred beats and every time they locked eyes it always felt like the first time they were looking at each other. It stayed that way for as long as they knew each other."

My own heart ached at the thought of Alec but I managed to continue on. "Joe and Adonis went through a lot together. They saw things that nobody else would believe. They lost people they never thought they'd lose. But they never lost each other and their love was so strong that not even distance could break them apart."

Madzie smiled. "I like this story. Do Joe and Adonis have a happy ending?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Their story isn't over yet."

The fire eventually died and Madzie fell asleep pressed against my side. She was shivering slightly but between me and Blue, she had plenty of body heat to keep her warm inside this cold shack. Me? I couldn't fall asleep. Alec kept crossing my mind. Was he hurt? Was he safe out of the cold somewhere? The thought of not knowing was killing me inside. This is the farthest we've been apart in over a year. At least when he was on his hunts in the woods I knew he'd always come back.

Now I wasn't so sure he was going to.

Blue suddenly lift her head and let out a low growl. She shifted ever so slightly (probably trying not to wake up Madzie) and stared at the door to the shack, body and ears alert.

"What is it girl? What do you hear?" I strained my own ears to listen. There was a shuffling outside the little building as well as low snarls.

Forsaken. Shit.

I quickly got up and closed the door as quietly as I could. Luckily there was a lock on the inside so that sucker was quickly latched shut just as the sounds outside got closer. Blue was about to bark but I put a forefinger on her nose and a thumb below her chin, squeezing gently. Alec and I had trained her so that when we did this, it meant be quiet. She obeyed, continuing to stare at the now locked door in silence.

The growls passed by the shack. There was a good chance they didn't even know we were in here so just as long as Madzie stayed asleep, all would be well. She would probably scream and start crying again which is something I couldn't have; not only was it not safe but it was also irritating. Thankfully there were no windows but even so, the results could be disastrous.

I knew that the Forsaken had passed when Blue did her little circle dance and laid down on the deerskin again to cuddle into Madzie. Having a dog like her worked out perfectly; she could sense things I couldn't and pick up sounds long before they even reached my ears. She was a good girl and I loved her with my whole heart.

"Good girl," I whispered as I pat her head. "Good girl. Always on the job, aren't you?"

She whined happily when I buried my face in her fur. That's when Madzie woke up and yawned loudly.

"Why is the door closed?" She rubbed her eyes and yawned again. "Did I hear growling just then?"

If I told her the truth then she'd only start freaking out again. "No. That was my stomach. I'm starving....I'm actually craving waffles right now."

"What are....waffles?"

Oh boy. Giving a child "the talk" was bad enough but explaining waffles to a five year old? Waffles shouldn't even have to be explained. Waffles should should just automatically be known-

"Magnus? I asked you what a waffle was."

"Huh? Oh. Sorry. Waffles. They're a breakfast food. Light and fluffy, toasted to a perfect golden brown, can be doused in either maple syrup or molasses. Sometimes you can even put whipped cream on top. Butter is always an option too but I prefer some good old maple syrup-"

I realized that Madzie was staring at me in confusion and stopped talking. "Magnus? I don't know what any of that is. I know what butter is but everything else...."

I sighed and hugged her to my side. "You know what? When we find a nice place for the four of us to stay, I'll find some waffle making supplies and make you the most delicious waffles you'll ever taste. How does that sound?"

She nodded and yawned. "Sounds good. You make waffles sound yummy."

"Of course I do," I booped her nose. "Go to sleep, sweet pea. I'll wake you up once the rain stops."

After squirming around for a comfortable spot she finally cuddled in. "Do you think Kit and Alec are okay?"

I really didn't know the answer to that so I made something up. "Absolutely. Alec loves the rain. It puts him to sleep. He's probably having a fantastic little snooze right now. Kit too."

A snore indicated that Madzie had fallen asleep again. Pulling my coat up over her, I too closed my eyes and thought about Alec, silently sending a prayer out that he was okay.

"I'm okay Alec," I whispered. "I'll find my way back to you. I promise."


	10. A Familiar Face

**Alec's POV**

Something was cooking. Cooking or being burnt, I couldn't really tell but it woke me up nonetheless. After my eyes finally cleared of sleep, I saw that Kit was hunched over the fireplace with a pot over the flames.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice deeper than usual and raspy with sleep.

He turned to look over his shoulder. "Oh. You're awake. I found some beans in one of the cupboards in the kitchen so I put them in a pot-and don't worry. I made sure the pot was clean first."

Sitting up slowly, I cleared my throat to get rid of the rasp. "Shit. How long was I asleep for?"

"A couple of hours. I slept for a bit then woke up to explore the house a little. It's really cool. Did you know they have three bathrooms?" Kit whistled. "Well two and a half. The one on this floor doesn't have a shower or tub. Just a toilet and sink."

I chuckled. "Three bathrooms, huh? You must've been so impressed when you found out."

Kit beamed. "I was! I could pee in the bathroom down here and then take a shit upstairs in the fancier ones-sorry. Poop. Poop upstairs."

We ate our breakfast (which was surprisingly well cooked) before heading upstairs to check out the rest of the house. I didn't really get a good look at the rest of the rooms when I did a quick scout earlier and I now regretted it. The master bedroom had a giant bed that looked it could fit seven or more people in it.

"Holy shit." I jumped and landed onto the soft bed. Dust flew everywhere causing me to wheeze and cough. "Look at the size of this thing! I should've slept here instead. It's really comfy."

Kit pressed down on it with a hand and nodded in approval. "Nice. Would've saved me the trouble of listening to you mumble and moan in your sleep earlier."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. "Do I mumble and moan in my sleep?"

"....a little. You said something about Isabelle and cried out for Magnus at one point so I just got up after that to explore around. I didn't bother waking you up or anything."

Oh. I never even knew that I talked in my sleep. Magnus would've mentioned it, wouldn't he? I mean, if I had said anything embarrassing or anything like that....right? Of course he would. Especially if I called out his name at one point.

"Huh. Okay. Well I didn't mean to disturb your sleep, your highness. But next time wake me up when you decide to search around the house or any other house. There's stuff I'd like to look around for too," I said, tossing a pillow at him.

He caught the pillow and smirked. "Your highness. I like that. Start calling me that from now-"

"No. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to the bathroom to see if there's any shaving stuff in there. My beard is getting way too long for my taste."

The bathroom was just as big as the master bedroom with a huge claw tub and a shower that could probably hold ten or more people. What I seriously didn't understand was why someone would need a bathroom of this size unless they held parties in it every weekend. Even my old bathroom back in New York wasn't even this large.

"How many friends do you have?" I asked Kit as we both entered the bathroom at the same time.

He shot me a confused look. "Why do you ask?"

I gestured the bathroom with a hand. "Look at the size of this place. We could throw a full on party in here. So how many friends do you have?"

After a moment of thinking, Kit shrugged. "None. Other than you, Magnus and Madzie. I didn't exactly make friends back at Lorenzo's farm."

Fair enough. "Alright. We'll just throw a big party for the four of us, huh?" I opened the cabinet for any shaving supplies and sighed with relief when the drawer was filled with all kinds of different men's shaving items. "Oh thank god. They're not electric razors."

Kit picked up one of them. "What's wrong with electric razors?"

I plucked the razor from his hand. "Well for starters you need electricity or batteries. Batteries have an expiration date so I doubt the ones in here will be any good. There's no electricity to the house so plugging it in won't work either. So we're going old school."

There was just enough shaving cream to get the job done. The razors looked brand new so I didn't have to worry about any other guy's beard hairs or blood mixing in with mine if I accidentally happened to nick my skin.

"So we start with a nice lather with some water-"

"There's no running water, genius," Kit mumbled.

I winked. "Lucky for you I'm always thinking. I put a plastic container outside earlier to capture some rainwater. It's just outside on the balcony so go grab that for me real quick."

He did as he was told, bring back the two full buckets of water that I left out. "Why two? One wasn't enough for your thick ass beard?"

"Ha ha. Funny. Just put the bucket in the sink and pay attention. You wanted to learn how to shave so I'm about to teach you."

I lathered up the shaving cream on my face and neck. "You want a nice even lather all around. The less you have, the higher chance of cutting yourself. The more you have, the less you can see."

Kit watched intently. "You look like Santa Claus."

I chuckled. "For now. The next step is to take the razor and make a nice, slow stroke on a spot. I usually like to start on my neck and work my way around and up."

"Don't you ever worry that you're gonna slit your throat open?"

"Not if I'm being slow and careful. Keep watching. You'll see."

I kept making slow and steady strokes all around my neck, being extra careful not to cut my throat open. Eventually I went over my jaw and the rest of my face, finally topping it all off by rinsing the remainder of the shaving cream from my skin.

Kit laughed once I finished up. "Huh. You look like a newborn baby now. It's amazing how you went from a man to a baby in a matter of minutes."

"It's both a curse and a blessing," I told him, rubbing a hand over my smooth face. "Okay. Now it's your turn."

He recoiled away from the outstretched clean razor. "I-I don't think I can. Like you said before, I actually need facial hair in order for this to work right? Look at my face. I'm a baby-"

"Hey. Kit." I placed both hands on his shoulders. "You're going to do just fine. I'll be right here to walk you through it, okay? I was your age once too you know. It scared me just as much as it's scaring you but I got through it. You learn through repetition."

He scowled, unimpressed. "Never gonna learn if I don't even grow some freaking hair."

Again, I gripped his shoulders to reassure him. "Look. I never got the chance to do this with my youngest brother. He didn't even make it to puberty so if helping you is what I have to do to fill the hole in my heart, then I'm going to do what it takes to fill it. Understood?"

After glancing at himself in the mirror for a moment, Kit finally nodded. "Fine. I'll give it a try. But if this messes up my face-"

"You won't mess it up if you just take your time and stop complaining every five seconds." That shut him up for good so I dumped my dirty water out the window and replaced the bucket in the sink with the second water filled one. "Excellent. Let's get started."

He took his time with each stroke of the blade. I watched to make sure he didn't have it angled in such a way that he could cut himself and if he did I'd straighten his grip on the razor. But other than that he did a fantastic job for his first time shaving.

"Ow. Is it normal for it to be burning like this?" Kit asked when he finished wiping his face with a towel.

"That's called razor burn. But yeah it's completely normal. The aftershave will help with that-and be careful. It might sting for a moment when you put it on."

Kit sprayed some on his hands. As soon as they touched his face he let out a yelp of surprise which only made me bite back a laugh. "Fuck! Ow! How do you do this everyday?!"

I put both the aftershave and shaving cream away back in the drawer. "I don't. At least not like I used to do when electricity and batteries were still a thing. I usually let it grow for a week before getting rid of it. Turn around and let me see your handiwork."

Kit turned to face me. It was obvious from the look on his face that he was proud of himself and of his first time tackling shaving. "So? How do I look?"

I nodded as I looked over his face. "I'd say you look like a newborn baby but then again you looked like one before you even did this so-" He glared at me and I just laughed. "Relax. You did an awesome job. There's a real difference on your jawline now."

He blinked in surprise. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. You had a bit of stubble there before and you got all just then. Now it looks super smooth. Just feel it and see for yourself."

He did and he gasped. "Whoa. You're right. There is a difference!"

I shrugged. "Told you. Now come on. Let's go search the rest of the house and see what we can take for when we leave this place."

I made it to the bathroom door when Kit stopped me by grabbing my arm. "Are you sure we should leave? I mean....my parents taught me that if I'm lost I'm supposed to stay in one place so that the people looking for me can find me faster. Shouldn't we do that too?"

He had a good point. Normally that's what I'd do too but there was this feeling in my gut that I just couldn't shake. "We should. But we should also try and double back and see if we can meet up with Magnus and Madzie along the way."

He didn't seem too convinced. "Alright. We'll do it your way then."

Since we both lost our bags in the river, we had to make use with what we found in the cabin. Kit found a backpack that was filled with old textbooks from 2017. He scanned through them before tossing them into the fireplace.

"Kit!" I exclaimed.

He shrugged. "What? It's old. It's from 2017. Nearly 10 years ago. Nobody's using it so might as well put it into it's second good use: food for the fire."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. But we could've kept it and I could've given you some lessons-"

"Hard pass. The one thing I actually like about the apocalypse is that there's no school. I haven't had to do math in 6 years. I'm sure as hell not doing it now."

We bickered for a few minutes before getting back to our scavenge. I found a few tins of food in the kitchen along with some blankets and clothes from the upstairs bedrooms. Kit found clothes too and he also found a large magnum in what I assumed to be the guest bedroom.

"Jesus! Give that to me," I reached for the gun with a hand. "Where did you find that?"

"In the drawer," Kit nodded down at the dresser in front of him. "Are we doing the whole Finders Keepers thing? If we are then this is rightfully mine."

I glared at him. "No. We're not. That's a very dangerous gun and I wouldn't even start you off with one if I did allow you to use them. This is far beyond your skill level."

Kit scowled but gave in, handing me the gun along with the box of ammo. "Well my skill level would be much higher if you had just gave me lessons like I asked you to last week."

"Kit." I sighed. "I'm not getting into it with you right now. Let's just grab whatever else we need and head out. We can talk then."

I didn't actually want to talk. It reminded me too much of the conversation I had with Max years ago about gun use. Naturally he went behind my back and taught himself, clever little shit. He was actually really good with one; it was how Magnus and I met back in Alicante. Nothing brings people together than being held at gunpoint I suppose.

"So let's say we head out and Magnus and Madzie somehow find this place. How is that useful to us? Should we leave a note or something?" Kit suggested. He sounded a little worried as he spoke.

"We can. Give them the direction we're headed in so they can follow the same path as us. Good call," I grabbed a pen and paper from the kitchen counter. Before the tip even touched the notepad, moment outside grabbed my attention. "Kit. Don't move a muscle."

Kit froze. "Why? What's out there?"

I just placed a finger to my lips in response. The longer I stared out towards the tree line, the more I could pick out figures walking towards the building. It was a group of people; I knew this because they had backpacks and weapons strapped to their shoulders. The man in front pointed towards the roof and it only took me a split second to realize they saw the smoke coming from the chimney.

"Get ready to go out the back door," I whispered to Kit. "Move as fast as you can, even if your leg hurts. Got it?"

He swallowed and nodded. "Okay."

The small group of people were getting closer. As they neared I could see that the majority of them were males but there were a couple of females amongst the small group. It was impossible to tell if they were friendlys and I wasn't about to take that risk to go out and see for myself.

"Go. Now," I ushered Kit through the back door. "They don't know we're here so there's a good chance-"

Something solid hit between my shoulder blades. I yelled, trying to reach for the crowbar I found inside but someone had grabbed my arms and pinned them back in place. Kit was in the same position but they were a little more gentle with him as we were dragged to the front of the cabin. 

A man in his early 30's with fading hair looked us over carefully. "Who are they?"

"We don't know, sir. We found them trying to sneak out the back door," a woman replied. "What do you want done with them?"

Done with us? I didn't like the sound of that so it was time to lay down the Lightwood charm. "Please. Take me and let the kid go. He's harmless and just wants to find his little sister.

The man (who I guessed was the leader) looked down at me. "Who the hell are you and why were you in our safe house?"

I scoffed. "Your safe house? How were supposed to know it belonged to anyone let alone it was a safe house?"

"I know exactly who he is," a familiar voice said above the noise of the group. Soon a familiar face appeared in front of me, smiling that all too familiar smile that I grew up with. "Hey big bro. Long time no see, huh?"

My voice failed to work so I did the next best thing. Freeing myself from the iron grip on my arms, I grabbed Jace, pulling him into a tight bear hug and just began to quietly sob into his shoulder. He held me just as tight, his own body shaking with tears. We both had a year and a half of tears to let out.

"We both have a lot of catching up to do," I laughed into his shoulder.

He snorted. "Do we ever. I hope you have some good excuses for why I haven't seen your face for the last two years. We tried looking for you-"

"So did Magnus and I. We never did find you. I never assumed the worst though. Not once. I knew you'd get Clary and Simon through whatever obstacles came at you."

Jace smiled, cupping my cheek with a hand. "Thanks, bro. I really missed having your undying confidence around. Simon always swears to God that I'm gonna get them all killed but his annoying ass is still alive. Is Magnus...."

"He's still alive. At least he was the last time I saw him...."

"Hey. Stay positive. He loves you too much to go and die on you."

We both laughed and hugged again before I spoke. "Where are Clary and Simon anyway? They're not with the group here."

Jace shook his head. "They're back at camp. I can take you and the little dude here to them if you'd like?"

I nodded. "That'd be great. But first I want to leave Magnus a message in case he passes through here at some point. Which direction is camp?" Jace pointed as I wrote a quick message on a piece of paper. "There. That should do it. If he does come to the cabin, he'll see this and know where to go next."

Someone cleared their throat. The leader nodded towards the cabin while pointing towards the bags each of them carried.

"As much as I love a good family reunion," he said, "I love going back to camp for a nice hot meal even more. Shall we?"

The rest of the group minus Jace began walking past the cabin. My brother just watched them for a moment before patting me on the shoulder reassuringly.

"Come on. Clary's going to shit herself when she sees who I dragged back to camp with me," he smirked.

"I can't wait to see her again. Simon too. I just wish Magnus were here too...."

Jace gave my shoulder a squeeze. "Don't worry bro. If there's one thing I know about you two is that you both always find a way back to one another."


	11. White Coats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna live tweet while you read, use the hashtag #StillAliveFic so I can find your tweets and like them! (Of course when I say this, no one ever does livetweet so.....yeah)

**Alec's POV**

Jace's camp was a literal camp. Several tents were set up to accommodate their small group as well as a fire was lit in the center of the perimeter which looked like it had meat cooking over it. As we entered, the few people that stood around looked up to see who the two new strangers were amongst their group.

"Home sweet temporary home!" Jace clapped me on the shoulder. "We're only here until dinner is finished getting cooked up. Or at least we hope it's getting cooked. Fucking rain hasn't cut us any slack all day."

"It's only rain," Kit grumbled. "Me and Alec got swallowed up by a raging river earlier. We could've died. You don't see us complaining about the river not cutting us any slack."

"Kit," I said in a warning tone. "Now is not the time to be a smartass."

Jace, on the other hand, looked Kit up and down with a grin on his face. "Who's the kid? Didn't realize you and Magnus were taking in strays like me these days."

"You were never a stray, Jace. Kit....needed help. He and his sister were lost in the woods near where Magnus and I were living so we took them both in."

Jace raised his hands in surrender. "I jest, big bro. But I gotta say....Kit is a weird name. Short for Kitten or something?"

I expected a rude retort from Kit but instead he surprised me with a calm reply. "Christopher, actually. Christopher Herondale."

Herondale? That was Jace's last name. Why was Kit telling a complete stranger all this and not me?

Jace, who had been taking a swig of something at the time, spit out what was in his mouth and choked and coughed. "Did you just say Herondale?!"

Kit shrugged. "Yeah. What's the big deal?"

A laugh bubbled up into my throat. "Well then. This is a much bigger family reunion than I thought. Do you know any Kit's in your family, Jace?"

"No Kit's but I do remember visiting an aunt with a son named Christopher when I was younger. The kid was barely three when I last saw him."

Kit waved his arms around frantically in confusion. "Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?! What is this guy talking about?"

Jace placed a hand on Kit's shoulder. "Little man....you and I are related. Cousins, if you will. My dad was your mom's brother. So bring it in, fam."

As Jace went in for a hug, Kit scrambled away in disgust. "I don't even know you. You said the last time you saw me I was only three years old? You're not my family. You're a complete stranger to me."

I could see the hurt in Jace's eyes as he looked at Kit and nodded in understanding. "I get what you're saying. But instead of being a little dick to me, can I at least get to know you a little more? Vice versa too? It's not very often you come across a blood relative from another time."

Kit looked to me for an answer, but I just shook my head. "I can't answer that one for you. Only you can make that decision for yourself."

After a moment of contemplation, Kit finally nodded. "Fine. But don't go trying to hug me anymore. It's weird."

A smile erupted across Jace's face. "Fair enough. No hug. But I'm getting fist bumps whether you like it or not."

As we went further into the camp, I noticed that everyone was very well armed. A few of the men that we walked past stiffened and gripped their assault rifles closer to them but never made a move. One woman even had a really nice sniper rifle that I knew Magnus would love to get his hands on if he were here to see it.

"Clary is going to flip when she finds out you're here," Jace laughed from beside me. "If she hasn't heard by now then I'd be surprised-"

"ALEC?!"

I looked over my shoulder to see a familiar head of orange hair racing towards me at top speed. The wind was nearly knocked out of me when she collided into my body, arms wrapped my middle in a tight hug.

"Oh my god," she said through a sob. "Oh my god. You're alive! All this time? We waited-we waited for days until Jace said we had to go before it became unsafe-"

"I know, Clary. I know. Magnus and I looked for you too. But we left when it didn't seem like we were ever going to find you and I'm so sorry that we did."

She cupped my face with a hand. "You don't have to apologize. I know you thought about us everyday. That's just the type of person you are."

I smiled into her hand. "I'm glad to see you again-and that you're okay. Both you and Jace."

"I suppose you didn't tell him I was here too."

I looked over Clary's head to see yet another familiar face. Simon stood in front of a small green tent, arms folded over his chest, his face obviously suggesting he wasn't pleased to see me.

"Simon," I nodded. "It's good to see you again too."

Simon raised an eyebrow. "It's good to see you too I guess. Killed anyone's girlfriend lately?"

"Simon Lewis!" Clary exclaimed. "We thought Alec was dead for over a year! How can you say such a thing?"

"Forgive me if I'm still pissed that he murdered the love of my life, Clary!" He shouted back before turning and going back inside his tent. The flap swished closed so I took this as a door slam if it was in fact an actual door to slam.

Clary looked apologetic. "Simon. He's....had a rough go of it. He's been different since the fire. I don't even really recognize him anymore, to be completely honest."

"You don't have to explain. I get it." I thumbed over my shoulder where Kit stood and watched a guy clean his gun. "That's Kit. He's apparently Jace's cousin."

"Cousin?" Clary raised an eyebrow. "That's one story I'd like to hear. As well as every other adventure you and Magnus have been on since we last saw each other."

I chuckled. "We'll be there a long time."

She smiled softly. "I've got the time."

Kit and Jace came over to us with plates in their hands. Now that they were standing side by side, I could see the family resemblance; Jace's right eye was the same color as both of Kit's eyes (blue) but Kit didn't have the heterochromia in his left eye which Jace (a spot of brown). Plus they both had blonde hair and the same shaped mouth.

Clary noticed this too. "Huh. Okay. Now I see the similarities. Kit, right?"

Kit nodded with food in his mouth. "Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm Clary. I'm Jace's fiancé-"

"Wait. Fiancé?!" My jaw dropped at the announcement. "Since when?!"

"Since a few months ago," Jace said, a hint of pride in his voice. "We haven't exactly gone ring shopping yet. Plus I hear wedding venues are hard to book nowadays."

"At least I can get whatever dress I want for free." Clary wrapped an arm around Jace's waist while looking up into his eyes with nothing but pure love. "That's always a plus."

"No budget, no rules," Jace grinned.

A voice then called out, announcing they'd be leaving in five minutes. We all ate quickly, not really relishing in the flavor of the meat, and quickly geared up to leave camp.

"Please don't tell me the place you're staying now is like the Institute," I whispered to Jace as I helped him pack away the tent poles.

"Ehhh," he made a "so-so" sign with a hand. "It's not exactly the same. We're not forced to work, first of all. If you feel you can make a contribution then you're free to hop in and contribute. Other than that you're pretty much free to do whatever you want."

"We had our doubts too when we arrived there," Clary chimed in. "After the Institute we told ourselves that we'd never get involved with another community. Now look where we are."

Kit tapped me on the shoulder. "Are you going to tell me the story behind this....Institute?"

I nodded. "Maybe tonight when we're both settled in. But not right now."

He seemed content with this answer and just followed along behind me as the group left camp.

Jace took this walk as an opportunity to ask questions. "So how have you guys been? You and Magnus that is. You look healthy for the most part."

"We're good," I told him. "We found a farm. Had a couple of animals and some crops-we even have a dog now. Blue Bell. You'd love her. She's an absolute sweetheart."

Jace cocked his head. "I'm hearing both past and present participles in there. You had a farm? What happened to it?"

I cringed at the memory. "We had to leave. It wasn't safe for all of us to be there anymore so we left."

Jace didn't prod for more answers. "Tell me about Blue Bell. You know I'm a sucker for dogs."

That was the thing about Jace. He might come across as a cocky jerk sometimes but he knew when to not poke around in your business when you didn't want him to. He didn't push for answers and he definitely didn't force you to do things that you didn't want to do.

He cooed after I told him all about Blue. "She sounds so cute! I've always wanted a dog but Miss Fray over here says it's just another mouth to feed."

"Well am I wrong?" Clary called out from a few feet ahead of us.

"No but you wouldn't mind some puppy cuddles at night? All that fluff and warmth and wet kisses-"

"I have you for that!"

Kit stifled a laugh by disguising it as a cough. It kind of made me happy that he was enjoying himself. At least it took his mind off Madzie for a bit.

After walking for about 20 minutes or so, we stopped at a large wall made of bricks and lined with steel pikes every couple of feet. One of the group members whistled and the gates opened up a few seconds later. I was nearly blinded by bright lights. Once my vision got used to it, my jaw nearly dropped at what stood before me.

"Welcome to Idris, big bro. I know it's a lot to take in at first but you get used to it after a few days." Jace pointed to the biggest building that stood towering over the small section of city. "That's the Idris Institute of Modern Medicine. They're working on a cure for all this."

I snorted. "A cure? You can't be serious. If there was a cure, there would've been one distributed by now. There's no cure for this."

Jace shrugged. "Try telling them that-ah. Here come the White Coats now."

White Coats? I never had a chance to ask him what those were when....well....three people that looked like doctors in literal white coats approached us.

"Hello there. Welcome to Idris. I'm Doctor Iris Rouse," a woman with dark red hair stuck her hand out for me to shake.

"Alec Lightwood," I replied, but didn't shake her hand. "What is this place?"

She beamed. "You're standing in the most technologically advanced community in the entirety of the United States. We're one of the few remaining facilities left that work non-stop around the clock for a cure to the virus."

Naturally, Kit's voice chimed in with a snarky comment. "Weren't you the ones who created the virus in the first place?"

Shit. He wasn't wrong there. Now that I thought about, the name of the facility did sound familiar. I remembered seeing their name all over the news before the outbreak started and when it did they suddenly disappeared without a trace. The facility might've remained but the people didn't.

"We did and we apologize greatly for that. We're making up for our past mistakes by studying the virus in hopes for a cure," Iris told him.

Kit rolled his eyes. "You think a smart doctor like yourself would develop a cure to go along with the virus as soon as the virus was made. Not nearly seven years after the fact."

I wanted to tell him to zip it but Iris approached him and looked him over carefully.

"What's your name, young man?" She asked.

Kit squared his thin shoulders. "Kit. Kit Herondale."

"And how old are you....."

"Fourteen."

She nodded, saying nothing more. "Get settled in, gentleman. Jace here will show you to your quarters. Once you're all packed away, feel free to join in on the festivities tonight. There's beer and games."

I waited until the good doctor left before speaking. "Beer?" My voice croaked. I turned to Jace for confirmation. "Why the beer and what's the occasion?"

Clary looped an arm through mine. "It's Easter, apparently. But who's even keeping track of the calendar anymore?"

I was but there was no way in hell I was telling her that. Besides. Easter was last week. Whoever was keeping track of the days here obviously didn't know what they were doing.

Clary announced that she had to be somewhere so Jace kissed her as she left before turning back to explain the bunks to me and Kit. "Okay. So I'll bring you to your bunks and show you where the showers are. Then you can do whatever you want from there," he said as he led us to what looked like a small shed.

"Are these the bunks?" I touched the side of the small building. Steel. Definitely a shed. It wasn't much taller than I was so sleeping on the top bunk was a definite no from me.

"Yeah. We used sheds so we can accommodate more people. Some of them have two bunk beds though." He opened the door and flicked on a light. "There's electricity. A desk. Chair. Small dresser. It's not exactly fancy but at least you won't be out in the rain or cold."

Kit stepped inside first and jumped into the bottom bunk. "This one's mine!"

"You wish," I thumbed over my shoulder. "Get out. Until you reach over six feet tall, you're on top bunk duty. I'll be cracking my head on the ceiling every morning."

He grumbled under his breath but listened anyway. Once he was happily settled into the top bunk, he pointed to something on the ceiling. "What's that supposed to be?"

Jace looked up. "Oh. That's the intercom. If someone from inside the facility needs someone from a bunk, they buzz down. It's only one way though. They can call you but you can't call them."

"How convenient," I muttered. "If we need help this is their way saying fuck you you're on your own."

My brother shrugged. "I don't think about it too much. Clary and I have an escape plan in case of emergencies anyway."

I perked up at this. "Oh? You want to let me in on it sometime?"

As if he feared someone was listening, he looked over both of his shoulders. "Soon. But not now. I want to wait a few months-"

"A few months?! Jesus, Jace. How long do you expect to stay here-"

"Just until the baby is born."

This stopped me right in my tracks. "Wait. You and Clary...."

He nodded. "Are expecting. Yes. She's three months along."

I laughed and reared up to give him a hug. "Holy shit. Congratulations! Of all the Lightwood siblings, mom and dad would never have expected you to be the first to be engaged and expecting!"

Jace laughed. "I know right? It took me by surprise. Clary had been sick a few mornings in a row so she went and got checked out. She came back with a positive pregnancy test and said we were having a baby."

"Congrats dude," Kit finally said. "I guess there'll be another Herondale spawn running around soon enough."

I was about to retort when Jace spoke first.

"If the baby's lucky, they'll be more like their mother than me. Maybe have my looks but I'd rather they have Clary's personality." He beamed up at me and pat me on the shoulder. "Come on. I'll show you where the showers are. You smell like a fish."


	12. Nailed It

**Magnus' POV**

I awoke at the sound of growling. Seeing that Blue Bell was peeking her head through the heavy curtains in the window didn't help my anxiety in the least bit. Whatever she was growling at, it had to be serious. 

"Blue? What is it girl?" I wiped the sleep from my eyes, getting up slowly to avoid waking up a sleeping Madzie. 

Blue let out a low snarl from her throat. She doesn't bark often and she knew better than to do so if we were trying to stay quiet and hidden. Every now and then she might let out a quiet "woof" but never yapped like those annoying yapper dogs that never seemed to shut the fuck up. 

Pulling the curtain away a little bit, I looked out to see what the fuss was about. Several Forsaken were poking around outside, their steps wobbly and uncertain which confirmed my suspicion that these weren't the smart zombies. Just regular old Forsaken that everyone knew and loved. 

"Shit," I swore. "Blue. Come on. Get out of the window. We don't need them noticing that we're in here."

She obediently jumped down and went over to where Madzie lay on the couch. Stirring, the kid woke up and yawned so loudly that I put a gentle hand over her mouth. This seemed to spook her and she screamed behind my palm in fright. 

"Shhh. It's just me. You need to be very quiet, okay?"

Her eyes widened as if to say "what's going on?"

"We're playing a really fun game," I lied to her. "Let's see who can stay quiet the longest, huh? Winner gets the biggest helping of whatever kind of food we find next. I promise. Got it?"

She nods under my hand. As soon as I moved away, she whispered, "Is Blue playing too?"

I bit my lip. I hated lying to that sweet face. "She is. She's really good at it too. I once never heard a sound come out of her for days."

Madzie covered her mouth in surprise but never said anything. She merely just zipped her mouth closed and locked it, even throwing away the non-existent key for added effect. 

"That's a good girl. Now stay here and don't move. I'm just going to go outside for a minute, okay? I won't be long." When I stood up to leave, she gripped the sleeve of my coat while her eyes begged me not to leave. "Blue will be right here with you. I'll only be a minute or two. Just need to check the yard."

She didn't ask what for because she was still playing the game. Her hands reached over and latched onto Blue's fur, which only caused the goof of a dog to cuddle in closer and put a protective paw on her lap.

Madzie wasn't looking when I picked up my axe and slipped out the back door. She would've asked why I was taking it with me and I had no good answer for her. I suppose I could've told her that I was going out to chop some wood (it was actually kind of chilly inside the cabin) but then she'd only want to follow me. I couldn't have that while I was out trying to deal with the Forsaken wandering about. 

The first one I axed in the head wasn't even paying attention. Forsaken are stupid for the most part (apart from the smart ones we encountered over a year ago) so taking those ones out was a breeze. 

The next one....not so much. 

I quickly realized that there were more out here than I saw from the window. They surrounded the house and nearly filled the yard once they were aware of my presence amongst them. The axe in my hand wasn't going to be enough to take them all out. My only option was head back inside and lock up as tightly as I could. 

A zombie grabbed be by the collar. I flailed my arms in a poor attempt to free myself but I only ended up tripping over my own feet onto the ground, screaming in agony when something sharp pierced through my skin and possibly muscle. 

I had to force myself to look down to assess the damage. To my utter shock and disgust, I saw a wooden plank that hadn't been there before (was it though?) laying on the ground with a rusty but sharp nail sticking out of it. The nail had pierced my thigh and blood was slowly dropping from the wound. If I removed it, it was only going to bleed more. But I couldn't move unless I got it out from my leg. 

"Gaaaaah!" I screamed as I slowly took the nail from my now profusely bleeding thigh. Fuck. This was only to draw more attention to me. Not only were Forsaken attracted to sound but the smell of blood? Might as well be an open call for an all you can eat buffet. 

The other Forsaken in the area all turned their heads towards me, noses in the air as they took in the smell of fresh blood. Coming out here was a stupid idea. We were all fine inside the cabin. Just as long as we stayed away from the windows and kept quiet, I wouldn't be in this mess right now. 

Pain shot up my leg as I tried to stand. The zombies were quickly closing in and I had to get back inside to either board the place up or grab Madzie and make a run for it. Granted, running wasn't going to be easy eith a hole in my thigh but all I had to do was outrun the undead. Sometimes it was just that easy. 

I somehow managed to hop back to the cabin and close the door. The sound of it locking behind me brought a momentary feeling of relief but that soon dissipated when banging on the door brought me back to reality. 

"Magnus?! Who's banging on the door?!" Madzie squealed with fright. "And why are you bleeding?!"

I linked my way over to her. I was probably a sight with the blood running down my leg but that wasn't the main focus right now. "Madzie. We need to leave right now, alright? But we have to go upstairs in order to do so."

She gaped at me. "There's no doors upstairs that lead outside! How are going to get out?!"

The banging became louder and o swore I heard the wooden frame crack against the pressure of two dozen zombies pushing against it. "You just have to trust me. Can you do that?"

Through fast pants, she nodded before letting me lift her into my arms. 

Though she was usually only light, she felt like she weighed a ton as I carried her upstairs into one of the bedrooms. My leg was throbbing in protest with every stop, the pain spreading to the rest of my body. Thankfully I knew how to push past it and focus on the more important task at hand. 

"Okay. Door's locked. Just let me push this...." I grunted as I pushed the dresser in front of the door. "There. We should be good. Can you see what's outside on the ground?"

Madzie crawled up onto a desk to look out the window. "Lots of monsters?"

I sighed. "Other than that? Like what's on the ground? I don't want to jump and in pale myself on a rake or something."

Her eyes widened when she heard the word "jump". "We're not really jumping. Are we?"

"Unless you plan on flying?" Jesus. I needed to stop using my sarcasm on her. It was usually reserved for Kit. That was just going to go right over her head. 

The door to the bedroom shook with a loud bang. The Forsaken had found their way into the house and apparently up the stairs too so perhaps they weren't as stupid as I thought they were. Can't base all zombies based on appearances I suppose. 

"Magnus," Madzie whined. 

"Shhh. We got this. I've got you. Just hold onto me as tight as you can and don't let go. We'll be on the ground again before you know it."

As I picked her up into my arms, she wrapped them so tightly around my neck that she was blocking my airways and crushing my throat. 

"Not that tight," I rasped. "Loosen the grip a little, sweet pea. I can't breathe."

She loosened her arms just when the wooden bedroom door cracked a little bit just enough for a Forsaken to get its arm into the room. It wouldn't be much longer now until they broke into the room entirely. 

"Okay. We're going to jump now. Can you count to three for me?" I asked Madzie. 

She nodded through a sob. "Y-yeah."

"Excellent. We'll jump on your three so that way you know exactly when we're about to hop on down."

Madzie nodded again. "Okay. One...."

The door cracked some more. 

"Two....."

The growls became louder as both the door and dresser shifted just enough for a Forsaken to squeeze through what little space it was given. 

"Three!"

I jumped. It was at least a good ten foot drop to the ground. When I landed, pain screamed up and down my wounded leg but I bit my lip to keep from crying out in Madzie's ear. Unfortunately I stumbled forward a bit too when my feet touched the ground, letting go of Madzie as I did so. She rolled away just a few feet ahead of me, her eyes wide with shock but seemingly unharmed. 

I groaned in pain. "Ugh. You okay princess?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. What about you?"

I gave her the thumbs up. "Fantastic. But we can't stop here. Those things are still after us-"

A body dropped beside me. The Forsaken that landed snarled and made a snap in my direction with its yellow rotten teeth but I crawled away faster than it could move. 

"Where's Blue?!" Madzie called out. "Come here Blue!"

A bark came from inside the house. Blue had gone into a different bedroom that also had a window open (bathroom maybe?) and was whining to get out. 

"Shit!" I swore violently. "Come on girl! Jump! I'll catch-"

It was too late. Before I could even line myself up under the window to catch Blue, she had already squirmed out the window and tumbled off the roof onto the ground. There was a sick "crack" and I knew right away that she'd broken something. 

Her loud whines tugged at my heart as she tried to get to her feet. Her back leg was turned in at an angle that no dog's leg should. But Blue was a fighter. She had been for as long as I knew her. No broken leg was going to slow her down or stop her from following us. 

"Is she okay?" Madzie whispered. 

More growls surrounded us as more Forsaken fell from the upper floor window. "I don't think so," I quickly told her. "I'll have to carry her for now so she doesn't hurt herself even more. Can you walk and keep up yourself?"

Madzie nodded with a confidence that I didn't even know a five year old was capable of. "Yup. Let's find a safe place to wrap up Blue's leg. And medicine for your leg!"

I'd forgotten about my leg for a moment. Looking down I could see that it was still bleeding and there was a good chance it could be infected from the rusty nail. 

We walked aimlessly in whatever direction our feet took us in. I couldn't really explain it but it felt like I was being pulled by a cord. Whenever we'd make a turn I'd just end up going back to the direction where the cord was tugging me. 

"Are we lost?" Madzie asked after walking for twenty minutes. 

I huffed. "I don't think we can get anymore lost than we already more, Mads. Being lost would mean we had something to go back to-"

"Look! A wall! Maybe there's people behind it!"

She was right. About thirty feet ahead of us was where the tree line ended and a huge wall made of brick began. The wall was lined with large pointed pikes which for the most part looked both menacing and promising. Community or not, I didn't care what was inside as long as I got Madzie and Blue Bell to safety. 

"Hello!" I called out. "We need help!"

A man looked up from his post, quickly aiming his gun at us. "Who the fuck are you?!"

"Don't shoot! I'm with a child!" I called back. "My dog-she's severely injured. She needs medical attention immediately."

"So does Magnus!" Madzie sang out in her tiny voice. "His leg is bleeding!"

The man seemed to consider our situation for a moment before opening the gates. "Head on in. I'll call Dr. Rouse to let her know you need medical attention. And don't try anything stupid!"

I wanted to say something back but Madzie had taken the hem of my jacket and started dragging me along towards the open gates. 

"Come on! We need to find you and Blue a doctor!" She yelled up at me. Bossy little thing. 

"I'm fine. Blue needs the attention more than I do," I told her. 

Madzie wasn't dumb. She looked down at my bleeding leg with a childish scowl. "You're hurt, Magnus. It could be really dam....damaged?"

A jeep pulled up along beside us. The passenger door opened and a woman with dark red hair pulled back into a ponytail got out to greet us. 

"Hello there. I'm Doctor Iris Rouse. Bertram said we had even more new guests but these ones needed medical attention?" She smiled at Blue in my arms. "Aww. Hello, beautiful. We don't have many dogs here but when we do they're treated like utmost royalty."

Madzie bounced up and down. "Blue's hurt! She broke her leg jumping out a window."

Iris made an "o" with her mouth. "You don't say? And why did Blue jump out a window exactly?"

"Forsaken. They got into the cabin we were staying at and there was no other way out. So we all jumped," I explained. My leg stiffened at the memory, the pain coursing through me like a second pulse. 

Dr. Rouse frowned. "I'll have my best vets take a look at her. You on the other hand...." She glanced down at my wounded leg. "May I ask what caused the bleeding?"

I carefully placed Blue Bell in a cage in the back of the jeep. "I wasn't bit in case that's what you're thinking. I tripped and fell onto an old board with a nail sticking out of it. I think it could be infected but I'm not sure."

"Oh it's definitely infected. Injuries like that need to be treated immediately. But there's a good chance we caught the infection early. If we didn't then we might have to amputate."

This was when Madzie tugged on my sleeve. "Magnus? What does ampu....that big word mean?"

Dr. Rouse chuckled. "What's your name, cutie?"

Madzie sniffed and wiped her nose in her hand. "Madzie. Do you have any tissues? I have to blow my nose."

Rouse chuckled with delight. "Oh, you're so cute. All the kids here call me Nana. Would you like to call me that too?"

Madzie nodded as she picked her nose. She's lucky she's cute....

"Excellent. So let's get you three checked out. Our guests that came in before you are also getting settled away. I think they're in the showers now but I can't be certain." Iris opened the backseat passenger door for me. "Let's take a look at that leg before we do anything else. I haven't done any amputations in years and I honestly can't stomach it."


	13. Reunion

**Alec's POV**

"Oh yeah! Nothing beats a hot shower, baby!"

Kit started to sing some song with his crackly voice as we showered in separate stalls. At first he was devastated when he found out we had to wash the old gunk off our bodies but once he saw that we weren't showering together, he was fine.

"You sound almost happy to be in the water again," I said from the adjacent stall. 

He laughed. "This is the best thing that's happened to me in a while. Apart from meeting Madzie that is. It's going to take a little more than tap water to scare me away."

"What, meeting me and Magnus didn't rank on your list of best things to happen to you?"

I heard him sigh heavily. A typical Kit response. "That's not what I meant. Good stuff just doesn't happen to me very often and I take it for granted sometimes when it does. So I'm sorry if I offended you or whatever."

I shut off the shower head, reaching for the towel on the hook just outside my stall. "I'm not offended, Kit. Or should I call you Christopher?"

The water in his stall was suddenly shut off. A soaking blonde head shot out from behind the curtain to glare at me. "Don't call me that. Ever. My name is Kit. Kit Rook."

".....but why that name? Why not stick with the one you were given as a baby?"

He grabbed his towel, disappearing behind the curtain for a moment before stepping out with it wrapped around his waist. "Christopher Herondale died a long time ago. Someone stronger needed to replace him. So Kit Rook was born."

He looked at me with such fierceness in his eyes that I really felt bad for him; a boy that was forced to grow up and mature in such a harsh world. The world might've been harsh before but that world didn't have the dead coming back to life. That sort of event changed people. Forced them to do things that they would've never done in the old world and become a person they never thought they'd become. Kit never had a chance to be normal and that made me sad for him. 

"Alright. Kit Rook. I understand why you changed your name but what I don't understand is....is this the real you? If we had met under very different circumstances would this be who you really are?"

He scoffed. "Who cares? Go dry off and put a shirt on or something. Your hairy forest of a chest is grossing me out."

The ignoring the subject issue didn't go unnoticed and this was certainly going to be something I'll ask again in the future. "Fine. But just so you know. This?" I pat my chest with a hand. "This could very well be you in a few years. Mine started growing when I was 16. You're not far off, buddy."

He looked at me for a moment, horrified at the thought, before disappearing into the locker room to change. I smirked, heading to another part of the locker room to change into my own new clothes. Unlike back at the Institute, these people actually managed to give me clothes that were in my size. The sweater they gave me was super soft and comfortable; it was just a plain black sweater with nothing fancy on it but damn was it ever soft and warm. Magnus would probably hold onto me and never let go if he knew I was wearing something like this. 

Magnus. Thinking about him made my heart ache. I should probably ask someone if I would be allowed to go out and search for him but seeing how I just got here, going out so soon would seem a little suspicious. Besides, Magnus was a very capable man. Maybe even more capable than I was. He would protect both himself as well as Madzie and Blue Bell. 

Once Kit and I were fully showered and dressed we were instructed to head to the infirmary. This one looked much more high tech than the one back at the Institute which basically was just a room at the church done up to house a few beds and medical equipment. But this one was far beyond that; equipment that I haven't seen in years stood beside the hospital beds as well as quarantine rooms off to the side for the sicker patients. 

"Hello there!" A voice caught my attention. A young woman with blonde hair tied back into a sloppy ponytail marched towards us with a broad smile on her face. "I heard you two gentlemen were new here! I'm Nurse Anne but you can just call me....Anne. Which isn't much of a difference but it just sounds so much better, you know?"

I blinked in response but said nothing. Rambling people weren't my forte. 

"Okay, let's get you two settled in. I'll take a look at you first," she pointed to me, "then I'll have a look at the little man. Have a seat up on the examination table. What's your name?"

I did as I was told, watching as she took out a clipboard and a pen. "Alec. How long as this place been around?"

She bit her lip in thought. "Well I got here about two years ago so way before then. I heard it was around as a community since the virus outbreak but who really knows?" She put the stethoscope around her neck into her ears. "I'm going to check your heartbeat and your breathing. Is that okay?"

I nodded. This wasn't my first time at the doctor's office. Loosening the hem of the sweater from underneath me, I flinched as the cold metal from the stethoscope touched the skin on my chest. 

"It's cold, I know," Anne chuckled. "Gives everyone a shock at first. Your heart sounds fantastic. Let me check your breathing now." She moved the stethoscope to my back. "Deep breath-there you go. Everything sounds as it should! Moving onto other things!"

Other things meant checking my blood pressure, my tonsils (which confused me) and my ears and eyes. Anne held my right cheek as she shone a bright light into my left eye, occasionally stroking it with her thumb. 

"Your cheeks are so amazingly soft!" She whispered before holding both of them with her hands and giving them a gentle squeeze. I swore I heard her say "squish squish" too. 

She finished everything off by taking a sample of my blood. Why she needed this, I had no idea, and it wasn't like me to not ask questions. 

"What's the sample for?" I questioned when she tied an elastic band around my right bicep. 

"Just for precautions. We like to check your blood just to be sure you don't carry anything apart from the virus. You squeamish of needles?"

She poked a vein protruding from my skin with a finger before slowly sliding a needle into it. "No. Just curious. Everyone has to do this when they first arrive?"

"That and every three months after," she nodded. "But it's merely just to check and make sure you're staying healthy. They're really big on health here."

When she finally finished up, she handed me a jar with lollipops inside. I just gave her a look while she snickered at the expression on my face. 

"Oh come on. Live a little. When was the last time you got a treat after a checkup?" She popped a sucker in her mouth and shrugged. "I have one from time to time. This job isn't easy so a little sugar goes a long way."

I shrugged, eventually taking out a green lollipop from the jar. "So Kit has to get all the same stuff done too?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes sir! You ready, little man?"

Kit looked up from a magazine he was reading. Home decor. "About time. You certainly took your sweet time on him, doc."

Anne's face turned bright red. "I-I just had to make sure I was thorough. Doesn't hurt to be careful sometimes. Especially in this line of work."

Kit got his checkup competed too and was even pleased that he got a lollipop as well. As we left the infirmary, he had the candy tucked safely away into the side of his mouth as we walked. 

"I like her," he announced. "But she liked your cheeks more. Plus she's too old for me."

"I'm sure she's taken anyway," I mumbled in annoyance. I was just glad to be out of there. "Did Jace say there was an Easter celebration going on tonight or something?"

A loud slurp answered my question. "I think so. He said there was beer too. Can I have one?"

"No."

"Why not?"

I looked over my shoulder at him. "Because you're only 14. You're underage."

He rolled his eyes at this. "Alec. Come on. I don't think there's an age limit to anything anymore. So if I want to have a beer, I'm having a beer. Besides...." He gave another slurp of his candy. "You're not my dad. You're not even related to me so you can't tell me what to do."

He trudged off ahead of me, lollipop still in his mouth. I was about to tell him not to walk or run with something like that in his mouth but I fought the urge. I didn't him any more mad at me than he was already. 

"Brother!" Jace's voice called out over the crowd of people that were suddenly gathering around. "Come have a beer! It's been a while since we cracked open a fresh one. You deserve it."

"What did I do to deserve it?" I asked, taking the cold bottle from Jace as he handed one out. 

"Well for starters you saved us when this apocalypse started. Raised Max. Protected us from everything and everyone. You never once took a break from it all and it's about time I got you to relax a little."

I watched him take a swig and shook my head. "I actually don't deserve it. And if I were a better protector, Izzy and Max would still be with us today."

Things went oddly quiet at the mention of our deceased siblings. We never really did talk about it, their deaths. It was something Jace and I more or less accepted. Talking about our feelings wasn't really our thing either so bringing them up was just reopening old wounds that had been sealed and scarred over a long time ago. 

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Alec. They died a long time ago. They're gone and there's nothing you or I or anyone else can do about it." He raised his bottle while draping an arm around Clary. "To the dead. May they be having a much better time than we are-"

"Jace," Clary hissed. "Respect. We talked about this-"

"Right. Sorry," he cleared his throat. "To Izzy and Max. Gone but never forgotten."

I raised my bottle to that. "Gone but never forgotten."

My bottle was a centimeter away from my lips when a familiar face caught my eye in the crowd. The more I stared, the faster my heart beat in my chest. It got to the point where my chest was literally giving me pains, and the beer bottle from my hand dropped to the ground with a clatter. 

"Alec? What's wrong?" Clary gripped my arm. I must've been swaying because Jace was at my other side and gripping that one too, holding me upright.

"Magnus," I croaked. "Magnus!"

Jace raised an eyebrow. "You didn't come here with him?"

I shook my head, eyes still focused on the person 30 feet from me. "No. We got separated. Kit fell into a river and I jumped in after him."

Jace made a "huh" sound. "Of course you did. So what are you waiting for? Go to your man!"

So that's exactly what I did. 

**Magnus' POV**

Madzie and I just finished up with the nurse when the Easter festivities began. They weren't joking when they said this place was huge; the crowd alone made me so anxious that I lift Madzie up onto my shoulders so I wouldn't lose her in the mass of bodies. 

"You doing okay up there, sweet pea?" I called up to her. 

"Uh huh!" She pat my still wet hair with a hand. "I can see everything from here! I can even see Alec!"

I thought she was making a tall joke when an all too familiar voice called out to me. My heart nearly stopped beating right then and there but I knew that voice. It was the one that whispered sweet things in my ear at night in bed and told me stories when we were cuddled together. 

"Magnus!"

I finally saw him; his messy black hair and bright hazel eyes staring back at me like it was the first time he ever saw me. He looked fine (he actually looked hella fine) as far as I could see; no cuts or slings on his arms or crutches. He survived the river. But where was Kit?

As if on cue, Madzie yelled "KITTY!" from atop of my shoulders and scrambled to be let down. Once she had her two feet on the ground, she was racing off to my right. I saw Kit kneel down and they both hugged, tears streaming down Kit's face. 

I ran in Alec's direction too, as did he in mine. The impact of our bodies as we jumped into each other's arms was audible; I always did think hugging Alec was like hugging steel sometimes. Warm, soft steel that protected you no matter what. . 

"I didn't know whether or not you were alive or dead. I was terrified," his low voice rumbled in my ear. 

"Me? You were the one who jumped into a raging river. Dumbass," I laughed through a sob. I pulled away to wipe my tears with a hand. "I'm glad to see you're in one piece though. What happened out there?"

He answered with a passionate kiss on the lips. "Not here. I'll tell you at our shed."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? We have a shed now? How exciting!"

I couldn't help but smirk at the classic Alec eyeroll he gave me. "It's where Kit and I are staying. It's a metal shed with a bed in it-just follow me, okay? I'll explain everything in there."

He made good on his word. By the time he finished explaining, my head was spinning with so much information that it was giving me a migraine. 

"So Clarissa is pregnant? For Jace?!" I exclaimed once he was done talking. 

"Out of everything I just told you, that's what surprises you the most? What about Kit being Jace's cousin?"

"Pffft. That I can believe. But Clary being a mom? Not something I saw in this lifetime. Or any other lifetime for that matter." I reached over and moved a strand of hair from Alec's forehead. "The next time you plan on jumping into nature's death traps, let me know first. Okay?"

He chuckled under his breath. His cheek was warm when he leaned into the palm of my hand. "I'll know that for next time. Right now I could use some sleep. Stay with me?"

He started pulling the blankets off the bed before I could answer. "Isn't Kit staying here? I'm not making out with you or having sex when he's just right above us-"

"You have a shed too, don't you? They gave you a number?"

".....yes?"

"Then that's where you and Madzie would've stayed. Kit can sleep there tonight. Right now I just want it to be me and you."

I laughed into his mouth as he kissed me. "Me and you and yet another bed that's not big enough to hold us both comfortably."

He winced. "Sorry. I know it's not the best but at least we're together?"

It was impossible to say no to those beautiful Bambi eyes. I stood on my tiptoes and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Your positivity is unwavering, Alexander. But at least we're together again. That's all that matters right now."

He smiled crookedly, pulling me down into the bottom bunk where we made sweet, sweet love all night.


	14. It’s In My Blood

**Magnus' POV**

It was around 2 am when I woke up. The sheets were tangled around me and the comforter was burning hot on top of it. It didn't help that Alec was sound asleep so close to me either. His body temperature was always above normal so sleeping next to him was like sleeping next to a furnace that was always on.

Let me rephrase: Alec was sleeping fitfully beside me. Every now and then he'd twitch and grip the sheets so hard that his knuckles would turn white. Coupling with the sheet clutching, he'd let out a small moan as if he was in pain or something.

I knew exactly what this was. He was having a nightmare. For over a year now he would have one every now and then, and they were of the usual subjects; he'd relive both Max's and Isabelle's deaths over and over again. I only knew this because he told me once but at the time he didn't go into specifics. I just knew that he had nightmares about his deceased siblings.

I tried to comfort him by brushing a strand of hair from his forehead. His eyebrows furrowed but he didn't wake. Instead, he pulled at the blankets as if he were trying to rip them apart.

"Izzy....Iz," he moaned. His voice cracked and at the same time, so did my heart.

When he began to toss and turn, that's when I tried shaking him awake. "Alec! Alexander! It's just a nightmare!"

He awoke with a start, sitting up so fast that he knocked his head off the top bunk above him. His hands immediately flew up to hold the top of his head while yelling, "Ah! Fuck!"

I let him rub out the pain before speaking. "Sorry. I had to wake you up. You were having another nightmare."

He winced as he checked his head again. "Thanks. Good thing you did because I was just about to-" He stopped, swallowing hard at the memory. "Anyway, thank you for waking me up. I don't think I would've been able to wake myself this time around."

I reached for his hand and held it. His palms were clammy with sweat like the rest of his body but that didn't bother me. "Hey. I'm here if you want to talk about it."

He chuckled. "You know I'm not one to open up about my feelings."

"I know. But if you ever did want to talk, just keep in mind that I'm always here for you."

He leaned forward on the mattress and kissed me. "I love you. I don't say it very often-and I should-but sometimes I get so," he inhaled deeply, "wrapped up in the world around us that I forget to take the time to tell you that."

"Hey," I kissed his smooth, bare shoulder. "Don't worry about it. It's not about what you say sometimes but how you act. And Alexander, your actions speak volumes. I have never loved a man more than you."

Alec chuckled lowly at this. "Let's hope it stays that way."

Warm hands gripped my waist. His palms weren't sweaty now, all his fears moved to the side by my reassurance, and they felt so good against my now sensitized skin. His fingers (bless those long and beautiful fingers) knew exactly where to go and knew exactly what to do and how to do it.

"Um," I croaked when his fingers squeezed my bare hips. "You're not worried about waking up our neighbors?"

"No," his mouth moved painfully slow over my throat, sucking at the skin just below my chin. "What are they going to do, kick us out? I'm sure they have sex in their sheds too."

Since his mouth was making my entire body burn, I tilted my head back more to give him more access. "Alec....I'm....getting really hard under the blankets."

That's when one of his hands slowly slid under the sheets and wrapped around my erection. We were both completely naked under the sheet so he started to slowly stroke it, causing a strangled gasp to escape my mouth.

"You sound like I'm choking you," he snickered. His hand never stopped what it was doing so answering him was difficult.

"Would you-would you be into that sort of thing? Choking?" I had to cover my mouth to keep from letting out a loud moan. Fuck, his hands were killing me in the best way possible.

"The answer to that is a hard no." He kissed me on the lips before getting out of bed to slip on his jeans. "I'm going to go check on the kids. You coming with?"

I groaned. "Alexander. Seriously? You're leaving right when I...."

He laughed when I indicated the raised blankets below my waist. "I'll make it up to you. I promise. Now try to tame the beast before we leave. Can't have you walking around outside like that."

The shed that was assigned to me and Madzie was actually not far away from Alec's. When we got there, Alec opened the door and peered in. Kit was sound asleep on the bottom bunk with Madzie cuddled into him.

"Hey. Take a look," Alec whispered. "They're all snuggled in on the bottom bunk."

Alec shifted so that I could take a look inside. "They're not covered up-here. I'm just going to throw that quilt over them real quick."

I stepped inside. The quilt on the end of their bed was thick and looked warmer than their sheets so I spread it open and laid it across them. Kit stirred a little bit didn't wake up, only holding Madzie closer to him.

Alec chuckled when I moved a stray hair from her face. "You know....you're gonna be one hell of a dad."

I snorted.

"What? You don't think so?"

This prompted me to shrug. "Well to be honest, I've never even considered it."

Alec smiled to reveal his dimples. "Seriously? Because I've seen you with Madzie and sometimes even Kit and the way you are with them....it screams Dad of the Year."

"Dad of the Year? Is that how you see me?" We both quietly slipped out of the kid's room and closed the door. "My own dad wasn't exactly the nicest. He left as soon as I was born."

A warm hand reached down and looped their fingers through mine. Alec's big doe eyes looked directly into mine and I knew he was about to spew some poetic shit or another. "My dad wasn't the greatest either but I think we both turned out okay. Besides. When it comes to having a family...." He pressed his forehead against mine, his voice low and soothing. "......you wouldn't be doing it alone."

The warmth that filled my heart spread to the rest of my body. Alec always did have a way with words and he knew that I was a sucker for sappy moments. "That's good to know. But let's save this talk for the future, okay? I don't think I'm ready to have it right now."

He nodded in understanding as we quietly left the kids to sleep. "Of course. I was just saying-why are you limping?"

Shit. I was hoping that he wouldn't notice but being the observant person that he was, it was only a matter of time before he'd notice the limp in my leg. "Oh. Uh....just a little accident at that really nice cabin in the woods. Nothing serious."

"Magnus."

"I'm fine Alexan-"

"Magnus."

I sighed, defeated. "Fine! Madzie and I had a run in with some Forsaken there. My stupid ass thought I could get rid of them before she even knew they were outside but I tripped and fell on a rusted nail. It pierced the skin of my thigh and I shouldn't even be on it, really. Doctor's orders."

"Jesus," Alec's eyes went down to my bandaged leg. "I'm so sorry. I'm also sorry for not noticing it sooner. We were naked in bed and everything and I didn't even think-"

"You didn't know. It's okay, Alec. It doesn't hurt now as much as it did before. Nurse Anne knows what she's doing and thank god for modern medicine. If this were the 18th century then I could've died of typhoid or something."

Alec chuckled at this. "I guess you're right. But tell me next time if you're hurt? That way I can be careful with you."

"I'm not broken, my sexy man. And if I'm ever in any pain or discomfort, you'd know. Trust me."

As we headed back to our shed, we noticed a group of people standing by one of the nearby makeshift homes. Two of them looked to be medical support of some sort while the others were crying and holding each other. They were more than likely family members grieving for a loved one.

"Hey. What's going on?" Alec asked someone standing in the onlooking crowd.

The woman sighed. "It's Mr. Bishop. He's been sick for a while now and the doctors want him in palliative care so he can pass away peacefully."

She spoke like we were supposed to know who Mr. Bishop was but I had to bite my tongue because of the seriousness of the situation. "That's horrible. Is that the family there?"

"Uh huh. Thankfully the doctors here are so kind and they know what they're doing. I'm sure they'll make his final moments as peaceful as possible."

We watched as a man was carried out on a stretcher onto an ambulance (I hadn't seen one in years so it was a bit of a shock to see one in action again). He had an oxygen mask on his face and looked deathly pale even from where we stood amongst the crowd. I hated that we were treating the poor man like a spectacle but I guess curiosity overpowered respect in this case.

"Damn. To be that old during times like these?" Alec whistled. "He's a lucky man. Most people his age don't get to live very long in this type of world anymore."

"Well it depends really. If medicine is readily available. They're getting exercise. Eating healthy-"

"I know, I know. I'm just saying. He's just a lucky guy to be surrounded by the ones he loves and those who love him. Not many people have that these days."

I looped my arm around his to comfort him. "What's on your mind? Remember. You can talk to me about anything."

He sighed. "I don't know. I'm just thinking about Max and Izzy. How they weren't really surrounded by the ones they love when they died. For Christ sakes, Max was surrounded by psychotic men and zombies. Izzy was about to be made into an experiment so she asked me to off her-"

"Whoa. Hey. Slow down and breathe. Isabelle made that decision all on her own. Plus it was you who carried out her last wishes so it wasn't like she was brutally murdered in cold blood."

Alec scoffed. "It may as well have been. Simon still hates me for it and it's been over a year since it happened."

"Fuck Simon. I mean don't literally fuck Simon because I'll be very upset but you get what I mean," I sighed heavily. "You are not a murderer, Alexander Gideon Lightwood. Isabelle's decision was her own and there was nothing you could've done about Max. Hell, I even tried to save him. Valentine was a twisted man and I'm glad you got rid of him. That was just one less evil man the world has to deal with. But guess what? We can't dwell on the past. That's done and over with. You need to keep your head screwed on tight and focus on the present while also keeping an eye on the future. Those kids back there need us. I can't have you losing yourself when they need us to protect them. We're all they have, Alec."

After finishing my speech, I leaned forward and up on my tiptoes to kiss him. He closed his eyes, as he usually did whenever we kissed, and smiled when my lips touched his.

"You're right," he whispered. "I need to stop focusing on the past. If Simon wants to stay angry then so be it. What's done is done like you said."

I stroked his cheek. "Good. Now let's go back to bed. I'm freezing my ass off standing around like this."

We headed back to our shed (much to my delight I got to watch him reach up to the collar of his shirt and pull it off over his head. Moments like these I like to play in slow motion), slipping under our cold sheets that didn't stay cold for long. After a quick makeout session, we dozed off only to be awakened by a loud buzzing sound followed by a voice.

"Magnus Bane. Doctor Iris Rouse would like to see you in her office immediately."

Alec groaned as the voice woke us both up. "Jesus. I got a funny feeling that intercom is going to annoy the shit out of us."

"You think? I'll go see what the good doctor wanted I suppose," I kissed him while pulling on a pair of pants. "I'll be back shortly. Don't wait up."

He hummed. "Give me all the details when you get back."

I chuckled. "Nosey. What if it's the results of my STI test?"

"Well unless you've been sleeping around with other people when I wasn't looking...." He glared at me but quickly smiled to show that he was only joking.

I just laughed as I exited our little hut. Silly Alexander. Thinking I'd cheat on him. Even after a year of being together, he's still scared I'll either leave him or cheat on him. No matter how many times I reassure him that I won't, I think that the fear always lingered in the back of his mind. I am his first boyfriend after all. It's only human to be scared of opening up your heart to someone like this.

A guy dressed in some sort of weird security guard outfit approached me after a few minutes of wandering around. "Excuse me? Can I help you get somewhere?"

"Uh," I cleared my throat, "yes. I got called to see Doctor Rouse? I have no idea where her office is."

The guard rolled his eyes. "Follow me. Her office is up on main."

My escort wasn't much of a talker so the trip to see Doctor Rouse was a quiet one. The building that he eventually led me to was massive; a four story hospital with an impending presence that overlooked the rest of the community compound. If I had to guess where the doctor's office was, I'd say it was on the top floor-

"Top floor. Just press the highest number on the elevator to get there. Her name should be on her door."

Wow. Really? "Oh so that's how getting to the highest floor works. You really answered the biggest question I've ever had."

The guard scowls up at me. "You're welcome. Top floor. Last door on your right."

He left and I made my way inside towards the magical moving door that lift people high into the sky. Once on the top floor, I looked for Doctor Rouse's office. As promised, it was the last door on the right. After knocking once, a voice called from inside "Come in!"

I opened the door to peek in. "Doctor Rouse? I'm Magnus Bane. You called for me inside my....home?"

The doctor looked up from her desk. "Yes. I did. Thank you for getting here so quick."

"I got here as fast as I could. Escorted of course. Otherwise I would've been wandering around like an idiot," I told her as I took a seat. There were several awards on her desk so I read them while she finished writing up whatever she was doing. "What did you need me for?"

She finally set down her pen and looked at me. "I wanted to talk to you about your blood results."

My stomach dropped. "Oh. I don't....have anything do I?"

She laughs. "Oh god no. It's nothing bad. On the contrary, what I wanted to discuss is actually a good thing. Possibly even life changing."

She had my interest so I nodded. "Okay. I guess that's better than the alternative."

"Indeed. Now what I called you in here for is strictly confidential. You can't talk about this with anyone else. Doctor/patient confidentiality and all."

"....not even to my boyfriend?"

"Not even him."

I hated lying to Alec but something in my gut told me that this was very important. "Alright then. What were my results like?"

Doctor Rouse perked up and immediately dove into her drawer for something. Turns out that something was several papers bound together with a paper clip; more than likely my test results. "Never in all my years have I seen blood like this. Even my colleagues were stunned by what they saw!"

I couldn't see what the papers read so a shrug was all I could manage. "What did they see?"

"Mr. Bane," she smiled broadly. "You have immunity to the virus. Have you ever been bitten?"

Lie, Alec's voice echoes in my head. "No. Never. I wouldn't want to be either. I heard it's very painful."

"It is. The process is even worse. First you start to sweat. Then your skin starts to turn green. Your fever reaches a point where it's too dangerously high for a human to handle but that's not what kills you. What kills you is that the virus attacks all your healthy red blood cells. Eats them for breakfast. This shuts down all your vital organs and death follows after that. So yes. It is a painful process."

She handed me my results. I'm no doctor so none of the charts and terminology made any sense but the only thing I did understand was "IMMUNE?!" written up in the corner of the front page.

"I know none of it makes sense to you but I hope you realize how important this discovery is," Doctor Rouse said in a low voice. "This could quite possibly change the world and cure people with the virus. Maybe even make others immune as well."

That did sound like a good thing. It was about time someone found a cure for all this. If my blood was the answer, then what was I going to do? Say no?

"So basically what you're asking is permission to take another sample of my blood to make a prototype vaccine," I said after a moment of consideration.

"I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important, Mr. Bane. I'm sure you understand both our fascination and excitement when we saw your test results. There was no way we were letting you slip by."

I sighed heavily. "Fine. You can take another sample. But I want updates on how the vaccine is going."

Doctor Rouse nodded. "Absolutely. Do you want to be called down when we know your boyfriend is out or away? That way it's a little more discreet?"

Again, the whole withholding information from Alec wasn't sitting well with me. We both had a policy of being honest with one another. I didn't like not being honest. He most certainly won't like it either once he finds out I've been sneaking around doing secret blood tests with a doctor we don't even know all that well.

"You take a day or two to think about it. I know it's a lot-the fact that you could be the saviour of mankind and all. But just think about it and get back to me when you have a definite answer. I look forward to hearing what you decided."

I took this as a dismissal so I nodded and made my way to the door.

"Oh and Mr. Bane?"

I paused, hand hovering just above the doorknob. "Yes?"

"Do remember that this entire conversation is confidential. I don't want to have to find out you've broken that confidentiality and have to show you the consequences of breaking your word."

That sounded like a threat but I didn't say anything. "My lips are sealed, Doctor. You won't hear a word from me. This talk never even happened as far as I'm concerned."

I could hear the pleased smile in her voice. "Excellent. Then please enjoy your stay at Idris. I'll see you in a couple of days."

The same guard who escorted me to the medical building brought me back to my little shed/home. He didn't even say goodbye, which was alright by me, and soon left after I went inside. I watched him just to make sure he wasn't planning on lurking around, so when he finally did leave, I shut the curtains with a heavy sigh.

"Hey," Alec rasped, his voice deep with sleep. "How did it go? What did she want?"

I admired the way he was sleeping for a moment; on his stomach with the sheets down over his waist. His smooth back and strong looking shoulders was truly something to behold. "Oh. You know. Just welcoming us to the neighbourhood and saying if we ever need anything, we could always count on the people here."

The look on his face said he didn't quite believe me. "That's it? She got us out of bed for that?"

"That's it. Just a warm welcome."

Alec was smart. Sometimes too smart. He knew something was up yet he didn't say anything about it. "Alright then. Come back to bed. It was lonely here without you."

I rolled my eyes as I took off my shirt. "I was only gone for twenty minutes, Alexander."

I swore I heard him say "plenty of time to conspire" but it could've just been my ears playing tricks. When I crawled into bed, his long arm wrapped around my waist and I felt his warm body press against my back.

"Promise you won't keep anything from me?" He whispered.

I almost hesitated. "Promise. No secrets."

And that was the biggest lie I've ever told.


	15. A Hunting We Will Go

**Alec's POV**

Breakfast that morning was one fit for a king; bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast, waffles, pancakes. Everything that I used to love but haven't had in years was being served in a gigantic cafeteria that used to serve as an Air Force base. If I was actually dreaming and this wasn't real, then don't ever wake me up. 

"Waffles. They have waffles, Alec!" Magnus chuckled while picking up one for himself. He would've went for more but a sign at the beginning of the line said "One Or None" with a little smiley face emoji beside it. 

"I haven't had waffles in years!" Magnus continued. "I'll be damned. This is going to be the best meal I've had in a very long time."

"Agreed," I nodded. The eggs that was piled on my tray was making me drool so I discreetly wiped the corner of my mouth with a sleeve. "Pass me a strip of bacon? And a slice of toast."

Magnus picked up both and placed it on my tray. "Have you seen the kids? I didn't check in on them this morning. Not since last night anyway."

"Yeah about last night," I sighed as we took a seat at a table with our trays. "What was up with you? You were acting a little off when you came back from seeing the doctor."

Magnus shrugged as he chewed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I told you what she wanted. She just wanted to welcome us to the community."

"Is that all she said? Or did she say more?"

"Alec," Magnus set down his fork and knife, sighing. "Please. I don't want to get into it right now. If there was more to the story, I'd tell you. Now can we please enjoy our breakfast while it's hot?"

I said nothing more but the urge to do so remained the entire time I ate. The food was fantastic (best I've had in a while) though I couldn't really enjoy with the nagging sensation in the pit of my stomach. Magnus seemed to be enjoying every moment of it; he commented on the "sublime taste of the maple bacon, cooked to perfection without a trace of fat amongst the crisp". It was like watching a cooking show where the food was being judged and he was the one to taste it and give critique. 

After we finished, I had every intention of asking him what Doctor Rouse really said when I was cut off by the sound of Kit's voice. 

"Hey guys! Jace said he's going to take me hunting later. Can I go?" He was practically bouncing in his seat in excitement while he waited for us to answer. 

"Asking your dads for permission, huh?" Jace chimed in out of nowhere. He was already geared up for a hunt, with a rifle slung over his shoulder along with his camouflage outfit. 

"They're not my dads," Kit grumbled. "Just say yes so we can end this already awkward conversation-"

"Hold up. Hunting? Where will you be going?" Magnus asked, dad mode activated. 

"There's a patch of woods not far from here that's teeming with wildlife. It's a good place to both find food and teach the kid the basics of survival."

Kit nodded. "See? Jace is willing to let me learn how to use a gun. Unlike some people here."

I scowled at him. "Jace. I don't want Kit around guns. At least not right yet."

Jace laughed at this. "Pardon me but I do believe the kid needs to learn sooner rather than later. Plus he's actually blood related so I think I have a little more authority than you do-"

He realized what he said a little too late. As he tried to get my attention and apologize, I had already scoffed and got up from the table and left the room completely to find the weapons holding. If Kit was going out on a hunt then so was I. I wasn't letting him out of my sight or alone with Jace and a bunch of other men that I don't even know. 

"Alec," Magnus appeared beside me. "Jace didn't mean what he said back there. At least I think he didn't-but my point is that he knows you're his brother through and through. Family doesn't start or end with blood."

"Try telling him that," I said to him. "I'm going with them. If anyone is going to teach Kit how to use a gun, it's going to be me."

"What, Jace isn't capable of teaching him?"

I snorted. "Jace nearly shot his own foot off the first time he used a gun. So no. He's not....not really. I mean I get he's grown up now and he's knows better but I'd still like to be there just in case."

Magnus said nothing. He just followed beside me and took in all the sights as we walked by them; shops, stores, kids playing on the streets. It looked almost normal here. I've forgotten what normal was but apparently it looked like this place. 

"Hey. Weapons holding is over there," Magnus said, pointing out a street sign. "Do you want me to go with you guys? In case all three of you shoot a foot off?"

I bit back a chuckle. "I'm good. Stay back with Madzie. Ask if there's a playground here somewhere and take her there. She'd like that."

He nodded. "Okay. I'm gonna go check up on Blue at the vet's office. Good luck and be safe out there."

I kissed him before making my way towards where the weapons were held. Jace and Kit were already in the lineup. Kit was bouncing up and down excitedly which was unusual for him because I've never once seen him this excited in the short amount of time that I've known him. 

Jace noticed me first and waved. "Hey. Look I'm sorry about what I said earlier. You're my brother, Alec. You always have been."

I waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. I didn't take it the wrong way anyway."

He didn't quite believe me. "You stomped off as soon as I said it. That meant you did take it the wrong way."

"Guys," Kit snapped. "You're killing my excitement here. I'm about to go hunting for the first time and you're going to have a family argument before we leave?"

Jace ruffled the boy's hair affectionately. "Family always argue, kid. Besides. You're family now too."

The lineup quickly shortened, allowing Jace and I to get our weapons as well as pick out Kit's. He complained obviously but Jace told him he wasn't picking out his own gun. He'd probably pick the biggest one there and kill everyone on the hunting trip. 

"I'm not gonna kill everyone!" Kit exclaimed. Jace had picked out a small crossbow for him along with some ammo which he wasn't too pleased about. "How come I get this stupid thing and Alec gets the good bow?"

"Because the bow is Alec's weapon. Have you seen him with that thing? He's an assassin," Jace smirked at me as we headed to the main gate. "This feels just like old times when dad would take us out for the weekend, huh?"

"Yeah," I laughed at the memory. "I was telling Magnus earlier that you nearly shot your damn foot off the first time you ever went hunting with us."

He suddenly stopped walking. "You told him that? Seriously?"

I shrugged. "What? I thought it was a good memory. It was the first time the three of us ever really bonded over anything. You remember how dad usually was. All work and no play. It was impossible to even spend any time with him."

I could see the thoughts swirling around in Jace's mind as he thought back to our childhood. "I remember. He missed almost every single one of my soccer games. I cried every night after the match even if my team won."

"I know," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "I could hear you from my bedroom while I was up reading. I'm sorry for not coming in and comforting you."

My little brother snorts at this. "Sorry? Alec that was 14 years ago. It's in the past. You had your own shit to worry about. My stupid crying was the least of your problems-hey! Should you be pointing that at your face?"

I turned to see Kit holding the crossbow up to his eye, examining it closely....much too closely. "Kit. Come on. You know better than that."

He scowled. "It's not loaded. I was just looking at and trying to figure out how I'm gonna kill a deer with this tiny thing."

Jace took the crossbow from his hands. "Still. You never know what might happen so I'm carrying this until we get to where we're going."

"But-"

"You can have it then. Don't complain or you're not going at all."

A final scowl and a loud huff was the last I thing heard from Kit. I guess he knew that Jace meant business and he really wasn't going to go hunting with us if he continued to complain. 

"Is everyone present and accounted for?" A man shouted at the front of the gates. He did a head count before turning to Jace. "Do we have extra hands today?"

Jace nodded. "We do. My brother and my cousin. Is that okay?"

The man took a quick look at me, probably sizing me up, and nodded. "Fine by me. Just as long as they try to bring back a buck or something. Big guy here looks like he can take out a bear with his hands alone."

Kit snorted. 

"Okay everyone! You know the rules. Spread out but not to the point we're out of radio range. Stay on channel five and we should be good. Who's excited?"

The small group of hunters all began to chatter excitedly. The woman next to me let out a whoop and nudged me with an elbow. I wish I shared her enthusiasm. 

"Alright. Let's head out! Sync your watched first!"

I synced mine just in time as everyone else as they looked down at their wrists. With a single "beep" all of our watches were synced for 1400 hours. Four o'clock this evening. 

"So where is this hunting area?" I asked Jace when the gates opened and we marched out. 

"It's a little patch of woods about a mile away from here. There's always something running around so we always bring something back," he paused for a second, "even if it's not enough to feed everyone in the community sometimes. But if we all got something big then that might be enough."

"I'm gonna get a bear!" Kit exclaimed. "A huge one!"

I ruffled his hair. "More like a bear's gonna get you. But I'm glad you have dreams and aspirations. Always aim higher."

Jace pointed out that we were in the "hunting zone" once we arrived. It was obvious that there were signs of animal life here; the poop on the ground as well as footprints were telltale signs that animals were around. 

"Stay within radio contact," Jace's walkie talkie crackled. "We don't have the time to be sending out a search and rescue team if you get lost."

Jace lift his walkie to his mouth. "Copy that. Really feeling the love here, Raj."

The walkie crackled again. "Just do your job, Herondale. You're wasting time. Over and out."

Jace sighed and looked at me. "That's Raj. Isn't he lovely? He's popular with everyone back at the community."

"I can imagine. So have you ever caught anything out here? Deer? Boar?" I asked in curiosity. I knew my brother was a good hunter so for him to say he didn't would be a big surprise to me. 

"Caught a cold mostly," he laughed. "I'm kidding. I've shot many deer out here. We don't shoot the young ones. It's cruel to kill them while they're only new to the world."

"Smart. But do you save enough bucks for....you know...." I didn't want to say the word "sex" in case Kit didn't know what that was yet. 

"I'm not dumb, Alec. Of course I save some bucks. Who do you think told these idiots to start doing that?" Adjusting the rifle over his shoulder, Jace rolled his eyes. "These shmucks would've killed the entire wild animal population if I hadn't come here."

I chuckled. "Yes you're a real hero, little brother. A true genius indeed."

"Don't patronize-"

"Shut up!" Kit hissed loud enough for us to hear. "There's a zombie ahead!"

He wasn't wrong. About thirty or forty feet ahead of us there were two Forsaken chowing down on a deer carcass. As they ate, we could hear the sickening squelches of the deer's entrails being bitten into and chewed noisily between their rotten teeth. They didn't seem to notice us watching them so they continued eating away as if we weren't even there. 

"I'm gonna get rid of them," Jace whispered, raising his rifle to shoot. 

Kit quickly placed a hand on the gun. "Don't. It's too noisy. Let me do it instead."

Jace glanced at me. Kit had a point. So I nodded in approval. "Let him do it," I whispered. "Just load up the crossbow for him. I'll show him the rest."

Jace did what he was told by loading the crossbow with an arrow and pulling back the bowstring to lock it in place. "If you miss and they find out we're here and attack, I'm using your stupid ass as a shield."

"I won't miss," Kit muttered when he was handed the crossbow. "Just show me what to do and I'll get rid of them. Piece of cake."

I lift his arms with a hand, positioning them the way the weapon was supposed to be held. "There's not much recoil but you'll still want to hold it steady. You'll also want to aim a little higher in order to hit your target-but not too high."

The teen took a deep breath to steady himself. He was so terrified that I could see he was visibly shaking when he lift his weapon to aim. 

"Don't be scared. No one's going to get mad if you miss," I told him in a gentle voice."

Jace snorted. "I might." 

I shot him a glare. "Just take your time okay? If you do miss, Jace and I can always just go down there and knife them. But for now this is good target practice for you. Unmoving or slow targets are what we need to start you off with." I showed Kit where the trigger button was. "Squeeze the trigger. Don't pull it."

Kit nodded. Taking a deep breath, he lift the crossbow again and aimed it at the Forsaken. I waited and prayed for a miracle that he'd hit one on the first try but miracles were hard to come by these days. It was entirely up to Kit now. 

A snap indicated that Kit squeezed the trigger to release the arrow. It soared through the air, seemingly on slow motion as Jace and I waited to see if it would hit its intended target; a silent assassin.  

The arrow pierced one of the Forsaken's head right in the back of its skull. Even from where we stood behind a late tree, we could see its jaw suddenly slack and its body slink to the ground next to the dead deer. The other one didn't seem to notice that their buddy was dead. It kept on eating like nothing was wrong. 

"Ha!" Kit laughed. "Did you see that?! I actually hit it! I took it out! I told you it would be a piece of ca-"

A loud gunshot made me jump. Jace started yelling but his voice sounded muffled and far away. My ears were mostly ringing but that wasn't the worst of what was happening. Not by a long shot. 

Kit looked down at his body. I followed his gaze and to my absolute horror I watched as a red patch of blood started to pour out of his left side. As his shirt turned more and more red, he looked up at me with a look of pure shock on his face. 

"Alec?" He croaked. "What...."

He started to fall but I managed to rush over and catch him before he hit the hard ground. My hands immediately went to the wound on his side in hopes that it would stop the blood from flowing even more. 

"What the fuck?!" Jace yelled. "You fucking idiot! What are you, blind?! Clean your fucking scope!"

I looked up to see who he was yelling at. Some guy I've never seen before, a man with long dark hair and a beard, was slowly approaching us with his hands held up in surrender. 

"I-I am so sorry. I didn't see the kid there, alright? He wasn't in my line of sight when I-" The man sputtered before bursting into tears. "I didn't mean to shoot him. I swear to god. Is he okay?"

I moved my hand away from Kit's wound. My palm was covered in blood. "Oh yeah. He's fine. Just bleeding profusely and possibly has a bullet stuck somewhere in him."

The man turned pale. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Yeah. You can start by shutting the fuck up and finding us a faster way back to Idris so we can get Kit some medical help," Jace practically snarled. 

The man nodded. "Right. Uh, there's-there's no shortcut that I know of. I'm sorry. Maybe if you ran really fast-"

"Ran really fast?!" Jace was about to lunge when he saw me lift Kit into my arms. "You've got to be kidding me. Alec, you can't carry him all the way back! You won't make it!"

I grunted. "If you keep talking to me and giving me reasons why I won't and I definitely won't make it. Now move. I'm bringing him back."

My brother said nothing. Instead, he looked down at Kit's pale form in my arms before stepping aside to let me pass. 

Then I ran.

I didn't stop. Not even to catch my breath or anything. Granted, Kit wasn't exactly light. Not was he small. Somehow he'd grown over the last week (or at least it seemed that way) because he felt much heavier and looked longer than I remembered him being. Or maybe it was just the stress getting to me. It was hard to think straight when you were running through the woods with a kid that was bleeding to death in your arms. 

"Hang in there Kit," I grunted as I ran. "Don't you dare die on me. Fight."

As I was still running, Kit woke up from being unconscious and chuckled wryly under what little breath was escaping his body. 

"At least I'm getting a cool scar out of this, right?" He coughed, blood spraying from his mouth. 

I frowned but kept running. "Absolutely. All the girls will be lining up to date you."

He smiled weakly. "What if I don't like girls?"

This caught me surprised and I almost dropped him. "So you don't like girls?"

He didn't answer because he fell unconscious again. 

I kept running through the forest, nearly tripping over bent over branches and fallen logs. Once the thick overgrowth started to thin out, Idris was finally on the horizon. The guards saw me running towards the gates and they whistled shrilly. The gates opened and I rushed past them, Kit slipping in my arms. 

"Medic! I need a medic!" I called out with every bit of strength I had left. The place was crawling with medical staff so it shouldn't be hard to get help quickly. 

A man ran towards us. "I'm a doctor. What happened?"

I placed Kit on the ground. "He got shot. The bullet's in his side but I don't know if it pierced a lung or not."

The doctor leaned down while putting an ear to Kit's chest and mouth. "His breathing is raspy so I think the bullet punctured a lung-bring me an ambulance! This boy needs surgery stat!"

Three more doctors appeared beside us as well as an ambulance. The paramedics inside jumped out to open the back and grabbed a stretcher to place Kit on. They worked quickly, knowing full well that Kit was bleeding out. Every second counted. 

When I tried to climb into the back with them, a doctor stopped me by placing a hand on my chest. 

"I'm sorry sir but you have to follow from behind unless you're a family member," she told me. 

I huffed. "He doesn't have any family except for his five year old sister. My boyfriend and I are the closest he's got to family. Please let me go with him. He'll be devastated if he woke up and saw that no one was by his bedside."

The female doctor glared up at me but eventually gave in. "Fine. But once we get to the hospital, you'll have to wait in the waiting room while he's in surgery."

I wanted to retort back with some sarcastic reply but time was of the essence and Kit needed to get to that hospital as fast as possible. 

Once we got there, the paramedics jumped out and took Kit out of the back, pulling him inside through the emergency entrance. 

"What happened?" Another doctor approached as we came inside. Damn there were a lot of doctors around here. 

"He got shot," I told him. "The bullet has possibly punctured his lung and he can't breathe very well."

The doctor nodded. "Take him to ER six. We'll work on him there. What's your name sir?"

I watched as they wheeled Kit away to the ER room. "Alec Lightwood. I'm Kit's guardian."

"Well Mr. Lightwood, you need to wait here until we're finished with the surgery. We'll update you when it's complete."

He shook my hand before jogging along behind the stretcher. I watched right up until they turned around a corner, so I couldn't see them anymore. Sighing, I took a seat in the waiting room. It wasn't until I sat down did I realize how truly exhausted I was. Truthfully, I've been exhausted for a while. I never spoke to Magnus about this mainly because of my pride and stubbornness but trying to keep this family together was taking its toll on me. It didn't matter how much rest I got; the exhaustion would always be there. 

"Well. I'm going to be here a while. Might as well get some sleep while I can," I muttered to myself. So I got as comfortable as I could on the hard hospital chair, closed my eyes and tried to get some rest.


	16. A Time To Heal

**Magnus' POV**

Blue Bell's butt wiggled excitedly when she saw me enter the room that housed the other injured animals. She and a couple other dogs were in cages recovering but she was the only one not barking in excitement. 

"Someone's happy to see you!" The vet, whose name was Helen Blackthorn, giggled as she approached the cage. "She was an awesome patient. Never complained about needles or being touched. She's a star."

I laughed as Blue licked my face through the cage. "She is a star. Will she recover properly?"

Helen nodded. "Absolutely. There were no complications when we were setting her leg back in place so there shouldn't be any reason why she won't recover smoothly. Just keep her cast on and she should be good."

Blue whined happily when I opened the cage and rubbed her belly. Her back leg was in a blue cast (because her name was Blue) so I was careful not to touch it when I stroked her soft fur. 

"Good girl. You're dad's good girl, aren't you? You were very brave at the cabin. Jumping from the second story like that?" I kissed her head. "You're braver than anyone I know. Except for Alec of course. Papa would be so proud of you."

Her tail thumped against the metal floor of her cage. She knew the difference between "dad" and "papa". I was dad and Alec was papa. 

"So...do I owe you anything?" I asked Helen when she closed Blue's enclosure and wrote on a clipboard. 

"Well seeing how money is no longer a currency, the cost of this visit is absolutely nothing. I do what I do here so that the animals are happy and healthy just like we are. They deserve to live just as much as we do."

Blue let out a little "woof" in agreement. Helen giggled when she saw Blue's signature toothy smile looking out at us. 

"She's a delight. You're lucky to have a such beautiful girl," she sighed. 

"I'm sure she feels the same." When I noticed Helen frowning, I put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. You okay?"

She nodded. "I'm good. Just thinking about my girlfriend. We got separated about a year ago-my little brother too. He was with his girlfriend when we went different ways."

"I'm sorry to hear that. What was her name? Your girlfriend."

At the thought of her lover, Helen beamed so wide her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Aline. She was the love of my life and there was nothing I wouldn't do for her. I was the peanut butter to her jelly so to speak."

The sound of her voice when she talked about Aline reminded me of the way Alec and I talked about each other to people we didn't know. Her tone said it all: she was in love. 

"I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of meeting her but I have a funny feeling her and I would be best friends," I told her. Her eyes widened in surprise. "I think you'll see each other again one day. It's a small world."

She sniffed back tears and nodded. "Thanks, Magnus. I hope so too."

After that I stopped by Clary's little shed/hut/home to pick up Madzie. The two had decided to have some girl time while I visited the vet so I hoped they weren't too deep into their gossip by the time I got there. 

"Magnus!" Madzie cried when she saw me approaching. "I'm getting my nails painted!"

Sure enough her nails were a bright pink when she raised a tiny hand into the air to show me. "Wow! Clary did an awesome job. Did you do hers too?"

Madzie "mmhmmed" and went back to playing with some plastic horses that Clary must've gotten for her. She seemed happy which was all that I ask when it comes to her. 

"Did Alec go hunting with Jace and Kit?" Clary asked when I sat down. She had pulled up a lawn chair beside her so we could sit down and chat like the old times. "I know how he gets sometimes. We've all been victim to Alec's overprotectiveness."

I sighed. "I wouldn't call it being a victim. It's more like we're lucky to have someone who cares so much about us."

She nodded. "That's true. You know, Jace was devastated when we got separated. His nerves were shot when we waited for days at the rendezvous. You had to see him, Magnus. I've never seen him so scared in all the time that I've known him."

I winced at the thought. "I'm so sorry, Little Red. I truly am. Alec and I were....recovering. So we couldn't search for you-I mean he did. I was recovering while he looked for you guys."

Her eyes widened at the mention of recovery. "Wait, what? Were you hurt in the explosion?"

I looked around to see if anyone was close enough to eavesdrop. "I'm going to tell you something but you have to promise not to tell anyone."

She raised an eyebrow. "Not even Alec? Or does he already know?"

"He already knows. He's the one who helped me recover," I took a deep breath. "When the Institute exploded, I got bit-"

"You WHAT?!" She immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, remembering that this was supposed to be a secret. "Magnus are you serious? How are you still alive?"

Honestly? I had no idea. The doctor didn't go into explicit details as to why I was immune so I was hoping that was another conversation for another time....which in turn was just more secrets to be kept from Alec.

"Regardless of what happened," whispered Clary, "you're a medical miracle. I'm surprised Doctor Rouse hasn't gotten her hands on you yet."

I winced again. "She did....sort of. She called me up to her office to discuss my blood results."

This made Clary pause from playing horses. "And? Did she ask to run some tests on you?"

I nodded. "She also asked me to keep this a secret from Alec."

She "hmmed" in thought. "Something doesn't feel right here. She always did give me a weird vibe ever since we first got here-and I've only seen her once or twice."

"She's not monitoring your baby?"

"No," Clary shook her head. "Another doctor is, thank god. Rouse would probably want to experiment on it or something. And I say 'it' because I don't know the gender yet. I kind of want to keep it unknown until it's born."

Madzie clapped her hands together. "I hope it's a girl! Then we can play together!"

I laughed. "You got to let the baby grow up a little first before you can play with it, sweet pea."

She frowned and went back to playing with her toys. 

"Jace wants a boy," Clary said with a sigh.

"Well you can tell Jace it's not up to him."

"It's not up to me either," she laughed, placing a hand on her belly. "Do you think we'll make good parents?"

I paused for a moment to think. "We don't know if we'll make good parents until we actually become parents. But if I had to guess, then yes. I think you and Jace will be a fantastic mom and dad. The little booger will have your hair and art skills while at the same time be a witty little shit like Jace."

"No cussing!" Madzie pointed at me with a tiny finger. 

I pointed back at her in response, causing her to giggle and duck under the plastic table. "Speaking of babies, I wonder how mine is doing."

Clary grinned. "Missing Alec on this fine day, Magnus Bane?"

I blew a raspberry. "Only when he storms off to play hero or macho man. Can't he just stay put one time? And not risk his neck?"

"Would it really be Alec if he didn't?" Clary reached over and put a hand on my arm. "I'm sure he's fine. He's a good hunter. So is Jace. The two of them are practically unstoppable together."

She had a good point. When the two brothers were together, they were a force to be reckoned with. 

"Maybe you're right. I'm just all caught up in the fact that I have to keep this a secret from Alexander-"

"Jace!" Clary called out. I turned to see Jace running up to us and looking quite out of breath. "Jace, babe what's wrong?"

Jace stopped beside me while gasping for air. "Kit....Alec....woods...."

The hair on the back of my neck bristled at Alec's name. "Alec? What happened? Is he okay?"

When Jace finally caught his breath again, he was much more clear when he spoke. "It's Kit. He got shot in the woods so Alec carried him back here. They're at the hospital now so I thought you'd want to know-"

I shot up out of my chair, but it didn't take long for a small hand to grab me by the pants leg. Madzie looked up at me with tears in her big brown eyes. 

"Magnus? I wanna see Kit too," she sobbed. 

I bent down and held her hands in mine. "I know, sweet pea. But I think it'd be best if I went first just to make sure they're both okay. Then you can come visit Kit once he's in recovery. Sound good?"

Madzie wiped away her tears. "Okay. Please tell my brother I love him."

I kissed her forehead. "Of course. I'll let him know. Clary? You wouldn't mind watching her for me? I'll be back later to pick her up."

Clary nodded. "I'd love to. It'll give me some practice for when my little one comes along."

Jace reached down to place a hand on her belly. "Our little one."

This was getting much too corny for me so I had to leave before their grossness escalated. Luckily for me I already knew where the hospital was so getting there wasn't going to be an issue like it was the last time.

The sliding doors to the hospital entrance opened and right away I could see Alec in the waiting room. He was sound asleep on those god awful chairs, his body much too long for them as his legs lounged awkwardly over the arms, his head tilted all the way back against the backrest. He was snoring when I approached, so I gently shook him awake. 

"Alec," I whispered. "Alexander?"

He started awake with a gasp. Once his eyes focused on me, he rubbed his tired face with a hand. "Magnus. Hey. Is there any news on Kit?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. I just got here myself a minute ago but only because Jace told me what happened." My eyes dropped to the blood on his clothes. "Is that...."

"It's not my blood," he confirmed. He sat up in the chair then, stretching out his cramped limbs one by one. "I somehow knew this was going to happen. All I kept seeing in my head when I was carrying him back was flashes of Max falling off the wall into the horde of Forsaken."

His voice sounded so heartbroken and sad so I reached over and took his hand in mine. "Kit isn't Max, my love. Neither one of their situations were your fault."

"What if they were?" He swallowed thickly. "I let Max go scavenging with you guys. I let Kit go hunting. Both situations had me making a decision for them. And both times I was very wrong."

There was a brief moment of silence between us when the PA system came on to page a doctor. I took this opportunity to cup my boyfriend's cheek with a hand and stroked his cheek with a thumb. 

"Alexander. Listen to me when I tell you this: what happened to Max and Kit were not your fault. They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Neither had anything to do with you so you need to stop being so damn hard on yourself."

His hazel eyes shifted to look at me. "They were only at the wrong place because I led them there-"

"Okay I'm going to stop you right there. Turn around. Look at me." He did as he was told. Now that he was fully facing me on the chair, I held his face between my hands and looked into his beautiful eyes. "Stop. This whole blaming yourself nonsense is breaking my heart-as is seeing you in so much pain. You do this to yourself, you know."

His eyes dropped to the space between us. "I know."

"I know you know. That's why I'm putting my foot down today. From here on out, you're not allowed to blame yourself for things that are completely out of your control. Just the things or person or people responsible for that event. Understood?"

He let out a deep sigh. The weight on his shoulders was so heavy; I wish I could carry it for him. "I'll try. But I can't guarantee anything."

I smiled, kissing his cheek. "Just try. That's all I ask."

A voice interrupted our tender moment. "Mr. Lightwood? We have an update on Kit."

Alec shot to his feet. "Is he okay? When can I see him?"

The doctor, a short man with glasses and a bald head, had to look up in order to talk to Alec. "He's doing just fine. He's stabilized and we managed to get the bullet out of his lung before it caused any more damage."

Alec's relief could be seen throughout his entire body. "Good. That's good. Can I see him soon?"

"He's sleeping right now in the recovery room but we can call you back in when he's awake?"

Alec nodded in agreement but said nothing. What could he say? Kit just went through something very traumatic and nearly died. Of course he'd need to recover a little. The kid was tough but he wasn't bulletproof. Nobody was. 

"Hey. Come on. They'll find us once he's awake so there's no point in loitering around here." I reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. "I passed a gym on the way to visit our furry daughter. What do you say we go blow some steam? Or blow something else if you prefer?"

This caught his attention. "A gym? I haven't worked out in a while..."

"Nor have you given or got a blowjob. But we can work out if that's what you'd rather do instead."

The gym looked much bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. It had all the usual smells that came with a gym; sweat, used gym equipment and the testosterone of the other guys working out while trying to prove they have a big set of balls. Muscles never really mattered to me, neither did looks. But Alec had both and a beautiful personality to go with it and I feel blessed to have such an amazingly sexy man for a boyfriend. 

"So what are we doing? Cardio? Lifting weights?" Alec asked, his eyes trying not to wander over to a group of guys doing chin ups in front of a mirror. 

I bit my lip. "I was thinking....sparring."

He caught the staff I tossed to him with a hand. "Seriously? Sparring? You don't want to spot me instead?"

I tapped my staff against his. "I'm sure. Unless you're chicken?" I started to bawk like a chicken and nearly jumped out of my skin when he attacked first. His blows were fast and well planned, like he knew what move I was about to make, but I managed to parry every one of them. 

When he had me up against a wall, he breathed, "Is that all you got?"

His stupid little smirk almost made me give into it. "Not even close."

This time I fought back, and I was able to move myself away from the wall. He looked caught off guard but only for a moment, blocking each of my moves with his staff. 

Alec waved his own staff in the air like a pro when I backed away for a breath. "Who knew I'd be so good at this? I mean you're not too bad yourself but I don't really consider this working out."

"So do you want to go join those gentlemen over there then?" I said teasingly as I gently nudged him in the ribs with the tip of my staff. "Come on. You've never wanted to kick my ass competitively before?"

Alec swat the staff away with a hand. "It's better than moping, isn't it?" He suddenly swung, his staff colliding into mine but I blocked the blow. "I could still be at the hospital waiting. This is an improvement."

I chuckled as I ducked under a swing. "I suppose? At least I get to see you all sweaty and shirtless. Just take it off. You don't really need it, do you?"

"Ah. Yes," Alec grunted as the end of my staff whizzed past his head by mere inches. "Is that the only reason why you brought me here? To see me shirtless? And no flirting. That's cheating if you do."

"I would never cheat," I swung my staff down so hard it pinned Alec's to the floor. "I mean you're not wrong but if I'd have known you were bottling up so much unbridled anger....I would've helped you earlier."

Seeing an opportunity to strike, Alec shifted so that he freed his staff and swung for my feet but I just gracefully jumped over it like a cat. 

"I like seeing you in full badass mode," I chuckled, giving my voice a deepened emphasis on 'badass mode'. "It's sexy. Seeing you all sweaty and watching your muscles bulge-"

I ducked as Alec dropped his staff and swung an arm to punch me but missed. My own staff forgotten as well, I slipped behind him and got down so that my back was to the floor. With my feet, I slipped them between Alec's legs and quickly split them apart which caused him to drop to the floor. I then gripped him in a headlock, my bicep pressed against one side of the sweaty skin of his neck while my forearm was against the other. Alec choked, his fingers scrabbling against the arm that was cutting off his air supply. 

"Do you concede, pretty boy?" I said lowly in his ear. 

Alec groaned and made a gurgling sound before tapping twice on my arm. Once he was released, he began to cough and gasp for air on the cold linoleum floor. "What the-" He coughed mid-sentence. "What the hell was that? I didn't realize this was supposed to be a competition."

I adjusted the fingerless gloves I was wearing and shrugged. "What, am I supposed to just let you win?

Alec rubbed his neck remorsefully. "I think you're a little too competitive."

I just laughed at this as I traced the veins along his right forearm. "Oh. You really should be more clear about that. I could've ruined your handsome face. What would I have to look at in the morning then?"

Alec chuckled and rolled his eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was low and raspy. "I told you not to flirt with me."

I didn't even have time to defend myself. Alec moved so fast that I suddenly found my back pinned to one of the stone pillars in the training room, the cold rock pressing against the bare skin of my exposed shoulders through the tank top I had been wearing. 

Alec, breathing heavily from exertion as well as other things, pressed a hand to my chest while looking me in the eyes. "You cheated."

"Did I? Because flirting is an excellent diversion tactic," I whispered. I couldn't believe how close Alec was to me right now. My heart was beating so fast under his hand that I even saw him look down at my chest where his hand was resting. 

"It wasn't a fair fight." Alec swallowed hard as he watched my lips. "You didn't play by the rules."

I reached out to what very little space was between us and tugged Alec in closer by the shirt. "All's fair in love and war. Besides...."

I watched as Alec felt a violent shiver run down his spine as my voice dropped to a deep whisper. If he hadn't been leaning against the pillar with both hands, he would've fell to the floor with weak knees.

I took this opportunity to whisper again. ".....it was never really a fair fight to begin with." With a chuckle, I gently pushed him away and headed towards the shower room doors. "You coming with me?"

It took a moment for Alec to find his voice again. "Coming where?"

I shrugged. "To shower, of course. We both worked up a sweat. So I figured instead of taking separate showers, we could just share the one?"

Alec had been putting away our staffs and at the mention of a shared shower, he dropped them to the floor instantly. "I'm right behind you. Let's go."

I laughed. "That's my man. Channel all that sexual frustration into something lethal-"

"Shut up. Or you'll lose showering privileges. Both the cleanliness part and seeing me naked part. You wouldn't want that. Would you?"

I thought about it for a moment. "I suppose not."

He made a move to follow me into the showers when I stopped him by putting a hand on his chest. He looked down, frowning when I didn't let him pass. 

"What?" He asked. "Are we showering or not?"

I nodded. "We are. I just wanted to make sure you were okay first. And by okay I mean you don't blame yourself anymore for what happened out there today."

Alec inhaled deeply through his nostrils before answering. "I do. But not as much as I did earlier. Sparring definitely helped reigned in those emotions and thoughts so thank you for helping me with that."

He kissed my cheek. I'm such a sucker for him it was almost disgusting at this point. "Alright. I believe you. But remember that I'm here for you. Always. Now let's go wash this shit off of us. We smell like a toilet."


	17. Doctor Suspicious

**Alec's POV**

Both Magnus and I showered after working out, together like he said we would, then headed out to pick up Madzie from Jace and Clary's place. By the time we left it was already after 3 in the afternoon but it felt much later in the day. Maybe it was just the exhaustion I was feeling and all the emotions were finally catching up with me.

"Alec!" Madzie cried out when she saw me. "Alec, you're here!"

I bent down and and scooped her up into my arms. "Hey, button. You okay?" She nodded. "Good. I'm glad. I heard you had a lot of fun playing with Clary today. There's horses in your backpack."

"Clary gave them to me!" Madzie exclaimed. "And then we painted each other's nails. See?"

She raised her hand up into the air to really emphasize that her nails were indeed painted. I chuckled, blowing a raspberry on her neck and making her giggle with delight. "Sounds like you had a good day then!"

She nodded. "Is Kit going to be okay?"

I glanced quickly at Magnus. He closed his eyes and nodded in a silent response. "Yeah. He's just fine. The doctors are going to help him get better so you don't have anything to worry about."

Content with my answer, Madzie hugged me tight and went right back to playing with her new toys again.

"So how is he doing really?" Jace asked once Madzie was out of earshot.

I sighed. "The doctor said the bullet pierced his lung but they managed to remove it and stabilize him before it did any more damage."

A broad smile appeared on my brother's face. "That's great! He'll be back on his feet in no time. I knew the kid was a fighter-"

"Slow down there, cowboy," Magnus interrupted, "because he's not out of the woods yet-pardon the joke. Anything can go wrong at this point."

Jace looked at him with an expression that could be described as disgust. "Aren't you a glass half full today. Why would you say that about a fourteen year old kid?"

Before they could get into it, I stepped in to calm the impending storm. "Can we not do this right now? Madzie is right there."

We all turned to look at Madzie. She was pretending like she never heard us but it was obvious that she heard every word.

"Sorry," Jace grumbled. "I am glad that Kit's okay for now though. When can we visit him?"

"Well the doctor said he needs rest right now. They'll call us back to the hospital when he's awake and feeling better," I told him, scratching my neck with a finger. "How long that will be, I have no idea. Could be a day. Could be longer."

Clary rubbed my arm and smiled. "At least you were there for him, Alec. You saved his life."

"He really did. You should've seen him!" Jace waved his arms about in the air. "He just lift the kid in his arms like it was nothing and ran through the forest. I watched him. He was like a superhero."

Magnus grinned at me. "Like a superhero, huh?"

A heat rose up my neck and face. "N-no. I'm not a superhero. I just did what was right otherwise Kit would've died."

Jace was about to open his mouth to speak when someone cleared their throat a few feet away from us. When we turned, I recognized the newcomer as the man who accidentally shot Kit back in the forest. He looked terrified as he shifted from foot to foot, avoiding eye contact while holding a hand over his left eye.

"I just came by to apologize again," he spoke in a low voice. "I overheard you saying that the kid was alright and wanted to drop this off."

He set down a pair of antlers on the ground. They were beautiful, but Madzie looked absolutely horrified at the sight of them.

"Tell the boy I'm sorry when he's awake," the man said, turning and leaving the same way he came.

I clicked my tongue once he was gone. "Jace....did you happen to give him a black eye by any chance?"

My brother shrugged. "Maybe? Or maybe he punched himself? We may never know."

"I doubt the guy punched himself, Jace." Magnus went over to where Madzie was seated on the ground and scooped her up into his arms. "Come on, princess. What do you say we go to one of those cute little shops and find you some clothes?"

She gasped in excitement. "Can I get a dress just like Barbie?"

Magnus laughed when she showed him her doll. "We'll see. Okay? Now let's give Alec some time alone with his brother." He turned and gave me a kiss. "I'll see you back at the shed."

As he left, Clary cupped her face with her hands and sighed. "You two are so cute together. It's obvious you guys grew closer together over the last year and a half."

"We really did. Plus I got to see what he's like around kids. He's actually amazing," I said, my chest swelling with pride. "Speaking of, thanks for watching Madzie while we were away. It's much appreciated."

Jace clapped me on the shoulder. "No problem, big bro. Anytime you need us, we're here for you. Especially now since Kit is in the hospital."

"Jace is right," Clary nodded in agreement. "I'm more than happy to watch Madzie for you while you and Magnus are away. All you have to do is ask."

I thanked her by giving her a quick hug and then shaking my brother's hand before heading back to my little shed. On the way there, I noticed Doctor Rouse speaking to someone just outside of the shed where that old man was picked up last night. Why she was there, I had no idea, but something urged me to go over and confront her about what she said to Magnus....whatever that was.

"Doctor Rouse?" I called out while jogging over to her. "Can I speak to you for a minute?"

She looked at me for a moment. "Do I know you?"

This annoyed me somewhat. "I'm Alec. Magnus Bane's boyfriend? You called him up to your office very early this morning."

She finally made a face of recognition. "Ah yes! You have the two kids with you. What can I do for you?"

Even though I was much taller than her, she still had an air of intimidation and authority about her. "My boyfriend. You called him to your office but he won't tell me what you spoke about."

If I hadn't been watching her carefully, I would've missed the small sigh of relief. Even when she answered she seemed relieved. "I just wanted to welcome you both to the community-"

"Then why not call us both up?"

"I-" She seemed to be getting irritated with me. "What I spoke about to your boyfriend isn't any of your concern, Alexander. It's between me and Magnus. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to check on several patients before returning to my office."

She tried to sidestep me but I blocked her path. "Is there something I should know about? Is he sick? Did something serious happen when he was injured?"

Doctor Rouse gave me a look of annoyance. "No. Nothing happened. He's fine. His wound will heal and he's the perfect bill of health. I was just being friendly and welcoming you to our fine community. Now may I please go tend to my patients?"

Her answer didn't satisfy me but the thought of keeping her from checking on the sick patients didn't sit well with me. So I nodded, stepped aside, and let her pass. There was nothing more I could say that wouldn't annoy her even more so I had no other choice than to just head back to the hospital to see if Kit was awake or not.

The hospital seemed even more busy than it was not long ago so getting a nurse or doctor to help me out looked like it was going to be a task all in itself.

"Excuse me? Are you able to tell me if Kit Rook is awake?" I asked a nurse that walked by.

"I'm sorry. I'm busy at the moment. Talk to reception and the should be able to help you," she told me without another word.

Hoping the reception desk was better, I strode over to it and dinged the bell with a finger. The woman sitting there typing something on a typewriter glared up at me which was acknowledgement enough. "Hi. Could you tell me if Kit Rook is awake? I'd like to see him."

She looked me up and down. "Are you related to Mr. Rook?"

".....no. But I'm looking after him and his little sister. My boyfriend and I are the only people he's got right now and I'd like to know if he's awake or not."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't-"

"It's fine, Pam. He's allowed to see the boy."

I turned at the voice. Doctor Iris Rouse stood a few feet away in her usual white lab coat with a clipboard in her hand. When our eyes finally met, she nodded her head in indication to follow her.

"Kit has been doing remarkably well since the surgery. He's responding to the medication and is sleeping like a baby," she explained as we walked. "How long have you known him?"

"Uh, a couple of weeks. He and his sister showed up in the woods near our farm one day. Kit collapsed so Magnus and I took him in and helped him regain his strength again."

"Hmm." She glanced down at her clipboard as if it would reveal whether or not I was really telling the truth. "Interesting how people are more united than ever these days. You didn't really see that before the virus got out."

"Not really," I grumbled. I really wished she'd just stop talking already. Small talk made me very uncomfortable.

Kit's face lit up like a Christmas tree when I stepped into the recovery room. It wasn't hard to tell he was loopy on medication; he could barely lift his head to look at me.

"Heeeeeey Alec! You're here!" He snickered. "How's it goin? Is my sister playing and stuff?"

"Yeah she's good. She was over at Clary and Jace's place while you were in surgery. Why are you awake so soon?"

He giggled. "Someone was tickling my feet. So I woke up to see no one there!"

I slid a chair over to his bed and sat down in it. "Well that's just rude. Tickling a man while he's sleeping."

Kit's eyes widened. "I know! I was having such a good dream too. Madzie and I lived in a big house filled with butlers and maids and everything was perfect...."

He winced before letting out a low moan of pain. In his hand I could see something with a button on it which he squeezed, relaxing almost immediately.

"Doc says morphine kills the pain," his voice was low and slow. "Too bad we can't have it all the time..."

He was about to press it again when I had to step in and take it away from him. "How about I just put this on the table for now? I don't want you accidentally giving yourself an overdose."

Kit just nodded but didn't say anything. He was starting doze off because of the morphine flowing through his veins, and I wouldn't hold it against him if he did.

"Do you need anything? Change of clothes, more blankets, some books to read?" I asked before he could fall asleep on me.

"Um...." He mumbled, half asleep. "Some clothes would be niiiiiice. They took mine away. Covered with....with...."

Finally he fell asleep. Not wanting to wake him, I just pulled the blankets up to his shoulders ad quietly left the room. Doctor Rouse stopped me on the way out.

"Would you like me to keep you updated on his condition?" she asked.

"Doctor Rouse. Uh yeah. Yeah, that would be great. I'll be dropping in again soon once I find some fresh clothes for him. Is that okay?"

The doctor chuckled. "Please. Call me Iris. And yes that's perfectly fine. We had to toss his old clothes away because of the blood obviously. If you don't know where to go in search of clothes, I recommend the shop Sweater Weather. They specialize in kids and young teen's clothes."

I thanked her then left the room. It was only then did I realize that I forgot to put back the chair I was sitting on (because I was such a gentleman) so I turned around to go back into then room when voices stopped me in my tracks.

"He said he was coming back later so we'll prep the kid another time. What a damn nuisance...." Iris' voice said from inside the recovery room.

"What's he even coming for anyway? You told him we would keep him updated on the boy-"

"I know what I said. He's bringing back clothes, of all things. As if the boy is going to need them where he's going."

What was she even talking about? Where were they taking Kit? I strained my ears to hear more but it was hard due to the increasing noise around me.

"Well when the Lightwood man does come back, we'll tell him we moved the kid to another room. He doesn't need to know where. All he needs to know is that the horizon looks bright and Kit will be up on his feet in no time."

I was so confused by this conversation. What exactly was she saying? She keeps mentioning moving Kit to another room but why did my stomach lurch every time she said it? Something wasn't right. Nothing about this felt right.

Nobody even knew I was standing outside the doorway listening. I dashed away before they could leave the room. This was something worth telling Magnus, even if he wasn't telling me the whole truth himself. If this was just going to be a repeat of what happened at the Institute then we had to get the hell out of here as fast as we could, Jace and crew included.


End file.
